Found You in Another Life
by LanaaLuthor
Summary: Desmond & OC. They're both broken, both lost. When they meet, they have a chance to save each other.
1. Chapter 1

**Description: **Desmond & OC. They're both broken, both lost. When they meet, they have a chance to save each other.

**AN: **I don't know where this story is going yet, but it's definitely going somewhere:P

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><p><strong>Part 01<strong>

It'd been so long that she truly lost the count of the days that had passed by. If she asked someone, she would know, but somehow, she rather not.

She was stranded on this strange island with the other survivors of the plane crash and she'd lost the hope to be rescued a long time ago. She was young but yet, she felt old. She'd supposed to have her whole life in front of her. A light and bright future. Instead she suspected she'd wasted it so far. Wasted because of illusion. Wasted when chasing something, somebody that was never meant to love her. Wasted because of her stupid hope. Wasted because… because she'd been naïve and helpless in her romanticism.

Stupid, stupid girl. Maybe she deserved what she'd got after all, she thought sarcastically. Maybe she'd finally learnt her lesson. She'd gone after the pretty package. She'd thought she could fix him, make him fall for her, make him happy. In return she'd been used and felt so degraded. So… wasted. She would've done everything for the guy and what she'd got in return? A plane crash. He'd bought the ticket. It truly seemed like he'd ruined her whole life when she'd hoped for him to fix it.

It'd been so long. So many weeks since that traumatic experience and she still hadn't gotten to know anyone here closer. Most of the survivors probably didn't even know her name. She'd talked to Charlie briefly when he'd been writing down all the names. Then she'd talked to people when it was necessary, never when she wanted to.

Now she was swimming. It was one of her favorite activities on the island. She truly loved water.

As she swam slowly to the shore she spotted a man walking along it. When she got out of the ocean and walked to her towel, their paths crossed. He held an almost empty bottle in his hand, his hair was scruffy, a little bit too long and he had a beard. His clothes weren't that much better either. What more, she was sure she hadn't seen him around the beach at all. She might not remember all the names, but she did remember all the faces of the people around her. Being stranded with them for so long had done that.

"Hi," the man spoke to her when he spotted her staring at him.

She frowned and tentatively made a few steps back. She watched him with curiosity as he decided to get some rest and just sat down in the sand.

She really wanted to cover her suit swim up now and she grabbed her shirt, pulling it over her head.

"You're one of the survivors, aren't you?" the man asked.

She still wasn't sure what to think of him. She knew there were others on the island. She knew they were a threat. She didn't want to become their victim. Still, this man, though a little drunk, seemed nice. His voice was gentle and had a kind tone to it. His face wasn't that hard, too.

"Yes, and you are?" she asked.

"Desmond Hume, the guy who'd been down the hatch for three years."

Ok, at least she knew what he was talking about. If he was lying, he must be a master. Still, she couldn't really trust him.

"Why are you here, then? I heard you escaped the moment an opportunity presented itself," she noticed.

"Well, I came back," he said when taking a sip from his bottle. "I got on a boat and wanted to get the hell out of this island, but then… then it struck me."

Curiosity took the best of her and she asked, "What was it?"

"I had nowhere to go to. I'm a failure. My whole life is one. I thought it would end when I found the woman I fell for, but then…" he just sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it. Who are you, anyway?"

"How do I know you're not one of the others?" she asked the perfect question instead of answering his.

He just scoffed and said, "You don't."

She was gone the very moment he said it. She needed to find out who he was. He seemed to be lonely and in pain, probably because of a woman. So he might be just like her. Maybe he was a person she could find a common ground with. She just needed to know something first.

"Have you seen Jack?" she asked the first person she saw and unfortunately, it turned out to be Sawyer.

"Why do you need Jack, sweetheart, if I'm here?" he answered in his typical way. She didn't really like him. He reminded her of someone way too much. Sweet words, blond hair that was a little bit too long, handsome and a good built. It was all she was avoiding right now. She'd once gone for that particular type of a man, only he was a professor in her collage whereas Sawyer didn't seem to be much educated. It hadn't ended well. It'd caused her to be stranded on the island.

"Oh, forget it." She waved him off and thankfully, she actually saw Jack in the distance. "Jack!" she called after him and he was nice enough to wait until she would make her way to him.

"Everything's all right?" he just asked. A typical question when you were a doctor and someone you didn't know that well suddenly called you. "You're…" he began frantically looking for a name in his mind.

"Julie," I told him. "Don't worry. We haven't actually spoken before when not counting the first day when you were examining everyone."

"Oh, ok, then. What's wrong, Julie? Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes. That's actually not why I called you…" I hesitated. "I met a man on the beach out there," I pointed the right direction, "he told me his name was Desmond Hume and that he was in the hatch. Can I trust him? I thought he escaped. I just don't want one of the others to pose as him."

"Scottish accent. Longish brown hair, beard, brown eyes? Slim, medium height?" Jack guessed.

"Yes, that would be him."

"He's telling the truth. I saw him in his boat last night. He shipwrecked on the island when trying to actually get away from it."

"Really? It makes you think it's a truly cursed place."

"I guess he's as safe as one can be here," Jack shrugged. "But let me know if he causes any trouble."

"Thank you."

"You're welcomed, Julie." With that, he smiled to her and walked away.

Julie, on the other hand, chose the opposite direction.

Yet, when she came back to the spot where she'd first seen Desmond, about two hours had passed. He was still there, just sitting in the sand and looking blindly into the distance. He seemed devastatingly lonely to her.

"So, it turns out that your story checks out," she said in a tentative manner when she sat right next to him.

"Is that so?" he just asked. "It took you a lot to come back here."

"I wasn't sure I should," she admitted.

"And why is that?" he asked when looking at her. For a moment there she was looking into his eyes and she finally said, "I rather be alone these days. Ever since the crash… I feel like I've wasted all the best years of my life for something that was only an illusion," she admitted and suddenly took the bottle from him and took the few remaining sips. It was vodka and she winced at the burn in her throat. Then she took a swing and threw the bottle into the ocean.

"Bad break-up?" Desmond asked.

"Worse," she just said. "When I first saw you, you seemed… lost somehow. And I don't mean the place we're in."

"I know exactly what you mean," he just said when grabbing a handful of sand and letting it slip through his fingers.

"Why didn't you leave this place?" she asked. "Why do you think yourself to be a failure?"

"Well, if I'm to tell you some private things about myself, I would at least want to know your name," he surprised her with that plea and she realized she hadn't given him her name yet.

"Julie," she did it now. "Julie Stanley."

"Well, Julie Stanley," Desmond looked at her and smiled almost imperceptibly. "I'm on this island because I shipwrecked. And it all started when I became a monk."

"A monk? Really?" She nearly laughed. "Sorry. I just… I'm not too keen on religion, I guess."

"Me neither, not anymore," he admitted and she nodded, because it was her case also.

"I got kicked out and almost immediately after that I met a woman," he went on. "Her name was Penny and I fell for her instantly. We were happy for a while. Even when I… I had difficulties finding a job, even when I didn't have as much money as I would like to have in order to spoil her… we were happy. Until the car accident in which she died. I got on a sailing trip afterwards, couldn't deal with loss, wanted to be alone… and I ended up here," he finished. "Once I was free from my duty in the hatch I thought I could go back home, but to what? I've been gone for so long… Where would I even find a job? How would I put my life back together? There never really was a place for me there. So I drunk myself into a stupor and ended up back here."

"I'm sorry," Julie said, truly meaning it.

"So, what's your story?" Desmond asked.

She lay down on her side when supporting her hand on her elbow and sighed heavily.

"I haven't really told that to anyone yet."

"You know what they say, strangers are the best listeners," he encouraged her. "But it's fine, you don't have to tell me."

"I want to. I need to talk to someone, so it may as well be you. I would feel stupid when coming to someone from the plane now as I haven't really been acknowledging them all before."

"Are you a loner or just you had a reason to?"

"I had a reason… I was pathetic," she admitted.

"Hey, now you're just demeaning yourself. Why would you be pathetic?" he got interested, forgetting about his own pain for a change. "You look like a beautiful and successful young woman to me. Maybe a little sad, but that's understandable when considering the circumstances."

"I'm here because of man who doesn't give a damn," she finally said. "I was a student in college when I met him. He was my professor and I fell in love with him instantly. Now I know it was just physical. I liked the way he looked, I liked his charm and I liked his intelligence, but I never truly liked his character. Maybe I thought I could change it… I don't know… When I got my degree I was doing anything to be close to him, to keep bumping into him, pretending it to be an accident until we hit off. Until he finally took what he was being offered so eagerly. I would've done anything for him back then. All my money went for making myself more beautiful and more desirable. Clothes, make up, hair, even laser depilation…" she nearly scoffed. Desmond just watched her and listened to her carefully, not giving anything he thought away. "Then he asked me to go with him to Australia where he was to give a speech on a symposium. I was to be the pretty date and I thought he was actually falling in love with me," her voice grew bitter. "My suitcase was full of lingerie and flimsy clothing and birth control pills, only leaving a little place for the dress for the event itself. I don't know what I was thinking. That we would stay there? That we would be happy forever? Now I hate myself for ever believing it, but I did believe firmly that we were meant to be. That he was the one and I would break through his defenses and make him love me. I don't even know now with what. With being pretty? With great sex? In fact… it wasn't that great. I felt like there was something missing, that something was wrong and now…" she paused to take a breath and then squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears. "He got bored with me. He called me insane. He bought me a ticket back home and… and I ended up here," she finally finished and lay down on the sand, facing the slowly darkening sky. "I'm sorry," she said after a moment.

"For what?" Desmond finally spoke from an exact position next to her.

"For telling you this. I know I'm pathetic. You must think the same of me now."

"We all need to learn sometimes," he just said. "You've learnt your lesson and now you're smarter."

"Yeah…" she scoffed.

"Trust me, I'm no better," he added after a moment of silence.

"You're running away from your life. You're afraid to start over. You believe you're a failure," she told him when facing him. "But I don't think you are, Desmond."

"Really?" he asked.

"Really. You just need to believe it."

"Now I can't really do anything with my life. We're stuck on this bloody island."

She actually laughed at that.

"You're right. We're screwed!"

"I think that somehow we're alike," he confessed. "We've both got lost and we both don't know what to make of our lives."

"Ex monk and a whore, how delightful."

"You're not a whore," his voice grew serious. "Don't you eve dare call yourself that." His brown eyes settled on her own intensely. "Do you hear me? You were young when you fell for that guy and now you know better. Don't you ever call yourself a whore."

"All right," she just nodded, surprised at the hard tone in his voice like he was angry with her to ever thinking of herself that way. He truly hypnotized her with that gaze of his.

"Good. And by the way, you're pretty without any make-up on."

"Thank you." She smiled to him through her tears.

"I just wonder… what do you have to wear if all you had in that suitcase of yours was lingerie and probably, the bathing suit I saw," he teased her, trying to lighten up the mood.

To his relief and exhilaration, she laughed. And she was truly beautiful when laughing for real.

"I traded a few things with Shannon when she…" Julie saddened immediately, "when she was still alive. I never knew all those things would become mine, but she died."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We weren't close, but still… I'm scared that we'll all soon be dead on this island. Those people from across it, they scare the hell out of me."

"I've survived here for three years and I didn't know they even existed. I can help you survive as well."

"Thank you."

In that very moment, in that day, a bond was finally made between Julie and another person. She decided to stop hating herself and face the reality. At least she had a friend now. Maybe just as equally flawed as she was herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 02**

"How are you doing?" Desmond asked when finding Julie, as always, alone on the shore.

It'd been some time since they met and they somehow established a pretty good friendship. At least she thought they did. She'd never really had a true friend in her life. For all she knew, she'd been alone all that time, even when around other people.

"You shaved," she noticed when looking at him. "But didn't cut your hair."

"Is it _that _long?" he asked when smiling at her.

She just shrugged. "I guess not."

"You can cut it if you like," he suggested and she actually laughed at that.

"Oh, trust me, you so don't want that," she assured him. "I'm terrible at cutting just… anything. You should see me as a kid in my school art class. It was mandatory and I was the worst one ever in making something out of paper. To be honest, as a child I was pretty bothered by it."

"Well, I could suffer through your cutting," he said bravely and winked at her.

"I made progress," she told him after a few minutes of silence, so he guessed she switched to another topic.

"Is that so? In what?"

"I started socializing, talking to people a bit," she admitted, quite proud of herself. "I actually got to know Claire better. I offered to watch her baby even when I had no idea what to do with it. I'm just hopeless with kids. Never had any contact with them unless counting the time when I was one."

"Well, then I guess you can practice for the future," Desmond said when idly shifting his hands through sand. He liked doing it like he needed to occupy his hands with something, Julie thought.

"Nah." She shook her head. "I never really wanted any children. I had brief moments in which I thought I could have them… I wanted a son," she suddenly confessed, "but you don't have the guarantee that it'd be one."

"Oh, you'd love a daughter just as much," he told her.

"Doesn't matter. In the end, I'm not a mother material. I'm too egoistic for that."

"You what?!" Desmond seemed surprised.

"I'm afraid of the pain I would have to endure and of the changes in my body. I'm egoistic. I want to be thin and I like my breasts on the level they are now."

"Seriously, you are not egoistic and remember that love isn't about the body."

"Yeah, I guess I've learnt that one the hard day," she murmured under her breath. "Still, I'm not the best person. See Harley there? He's such a sweet and good guy, but I would never be interested in him because I just can't imagine being with somebody so fat. If that's not a wrong thought then… I am egoistic," she repeated. "I always look for handsome men. Even after everything I've been through with one."

"Not being attractive to fat people doesn't make you a bad person," Desmond said when looking at her until she would meet his eye. "And I'll say it again: You are not egoistic, Julie. You know why?" She shook her head, not breaking the eye contact. "Because I've seen you with the people here. I've seen you being just the opposite of an egoist. You might not be social, but when someone asks you for help, you always do it with a smile. You never refuse."

"Have you been watching me?" she teased him when smiling.

"We're friends, aren't we? I notice things, that's all."

"Thank you. For seeing the best in me."

"You're welcomed. You know…" he suddenly started, "I always wanted to have a son, too," he confessed.

"And which man doesn't?" she continued with the teasing.

"Those are just stereotypes! You could say that every woman wants a daughter."

"That's not true."

"You see?"

They were just smiling at each other for a while and then they looked back at the ocean.

* * *

><p>"<em>You're nothing to me! You were just a body to fuck!" <em>

Julie opened her eyes and sat up straight, looking around. Her breathing quickened as the fear, broken heart and disappointment with her life all came back to her.

It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't in Australia. That she was here, on an island with the rest of the survivors. What she's just dreamt about was in the past and she was supposed to be looking into the future. Looking forward. Going forward.

Only it was so hard when actually not having any hope to be rescued.

She stirred when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Still, it was impossible. It couldn't be.

She turned right and looked into the woods.

He was there. He was just standing there in his suit, his blond hair cut in a recent fashion, the self-assuring smirk on his face, his hands in the pockets of his pants. And he was watching her. Laughing at her. At her own stupidity. Sure, let him laugh at the girl who loved too easily. Only now, she would never make the same mistake again.

He couldn't be there, she thought rationally. He hadn't been on the plane. He'd stayed in Sydney.

So how came he was there, in the woods right now?

She needed to check it up. He was a demon from her past they she needed to slay. Maybe she had no perspectives of moving on on this island, but she could at least face her past and deal with it properly. Maybe she just needed to forgive herself?

She followed him into the jungle.

* * *

><p><em>They entered their hotel apartment in Sydney. She knew why he'd taken her with him. She knew what he'd wanted to do with her and she was looking forward to it with pleasant anticipation. She wanted it. She wanted this man. She wondered how much he would like the new lingerie she was wearing right now. She would soon find out, it was in his favorite color. And it would be their first time together.<em>

* * *

><p><em>She lay awake whereas he was long asleep.<em>

_ She still seemed to be overwhelmed by everything that had happened that night between them. It'd supposed to be wonderful, it'd supposed to be desire and love and need and… just fireworks. It'd supposed to be making love. An awakening. Something that felt right._

_ Instead, she'd experienced just the opposite and she couldn't understand it. She loved that man, she was sure of it, so why when he'd kissed her, undressed her, touched her… why it'd felt weird? _Wrong_, somehow? Why hadn't she enjoyed the feel of his body next to hers as she'd thought she would? Why it'd felt… _wrong_? She had no better word for it. She had come for him, at least she thought so, but it'd been just a small explosion. She'd experienced better with just herself and her fantasies sometimes. Wasn't the real thing with the real love of her life supposed to be that much better? _

_ When she lay in his bed, naked right next to his own naked body as he'd rolled over to the other side a moment after he'd fallen asleep, she felt _too naked_, too exposed. It was like she was ashamed, but she knew there was nothing to be ashamed of. What they'd done was natural. Her body looked great so she didn't have to be ashamed._

_ Still, what she felt made her want to cover herself up even more._

_ It would get better, she decided. It was just new. She still believed they were meant to be. Whom else she could love like him? He was beautiful and smart and their careers would be interwoven together for the rest of their lives. He was everything she'd ever dreamt of._

_ He needed to be _it_._

* * *

><p>When Julie finally walked into the small clearing, he disappeared.<p>

"Where are you?!" she asked into nothingness. "What do you want from me?!"

When she left the camp it'd been barely morning, but now the sun was raising higher and higher on the horizon and she hadn't had anything to drink or eat. She'd just taken off into the jungle without thinking. How stupid of her? And what that apparition was? Had she really seen it?

"Fuck this," she cursed under her breath and turned around with the intention to go back to camp.

In that moment her foot slipped and she found herself falling down a small slope. She would've been fine if she hadn't sprained her ankle.

* * *

><p><em>It'd been a week and they were now standing in their apartment, arguing. He was screaming at her and hurting her with every word that got out of his mouth. Her world was crumbling down around her and she didn't know what her life was anymore. Everything she'd ever believed and been so sure of was now being squashed, stepped on, destroyed. And it was all done by him. The person she expected to care for her.<em>

_ "What did you expect?!" he was yelling. "That I'd give you a ring and we'd be living happily ever after?! I'm not that kind of a guy! I'll never be one and nothing you ever do will change that!"_

_ She started crying. Just a fantastic response, she thought when covering her face with her hands. _

_ "Great, just fucking great!" he went on screaming. "You know what?! I don't need this fucking shit! You want the truth?! You were easy! In fact you're nothing to me! You were just a body to fuck! Now get the fuck out of here and out of my life! I don't want to see you ever again!"_

_ That she could do. She could at least leave with dignity._

_ She grabbed her suitcase, packed her things and left, slamming the door so hard that she thought it might bounce right off. It didn't. _

_ When she got to the airport and wanted to buy a ticket to somewhere, anywhere but here, she found that he'd already done it for her._

_ "Oh, you fucking bastard," she murmured under the breath, but she decided that she wouldn't waste anymore of her own money. She was going home now. And he was paying._

* * *

><p>When Julie finally managed to stand up, though her ankle hurt like hell and she needed to balance herself on the other foot, she thought that she might've lost her consciousness there for a moment.<p>

Yes, she definitely had and she didn't even know when and for how long. The sun was definitely low on the horizon. Maybe that meant that someone had noticed by now that she was gone and went looking for her? Then a bitter feeling hit her as she realized that no one probably had. She hadn't made friends at all. She'd been the lonely girl. The girl no one cared about. She'd been one her entire life.

"And here you are, being pathetic again," she heard a voice that had used to cause her heart to jump in happiness, now she hated that sound. She hated everything about this man and she wished him to die. Maybe it wasn't right, but he did nothing but used women. She wondered how many had cried because of him before her and how many would after her. Still, it was all her fault that she'd gone after him. He would've have gotten interested in her if she hadn't bumped into him deliberately and so many times!

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yes, it was her fault, but she had to forgive herself. She had to learn from her mistakes and move on, be smarter about this.

She decided to face her fear even though logically thinking, he wasn't there with her. It was just a figment of her imagination. Her own mind must've produced him, because she needed to deal with that motherfucker once and for all. She needed to say all those things she should've said when he'd thrown her out back in Australia.

"I never really loved you," she directed to him, rather be brave than start crying. "You never made me feel good. You think of yourself to be so perfect and so handsome, but in fact, you're nothing! The pretty shell just hides the ugly inside! You're not even a good lover, for a god's sake! I don't know what women see in you anymore! I despise you and I choose to forget you and to forgive myself. You're nothing to me, do you hear me? _Nothing! _You're not worth beating myself over it! I am done! I am truly done! Maybe I was in a plane crash because I ran away from you, but I am glad! Do you hear me?! I am fucking happy that the plane crashed because it freed me of _you_!"

She stopped, breathing the air deeply into her lungs and closing her eyes. She was thirsty and hungry and exhausted, but she somehow felt liberated. He no longer had any power over her. She freed herself. She was ready to move on even if it was on this island. There were still things to do, people to meet. She was done looking back.

When she opened her eyes, he was gone. She was truly alone there. She was free. And that kind of freedom tasted truly amazing.

Then she heard voices coming from afar. Soon enough she was able to distinguish one of them.

They were looking for her. Of course he would look for her! There was still one person that cared and that one person was enough, because it was all it took for the rest to follow, to grow concern that she was gone. Desmond was right, she might not truly socialize with them, but she was always helpful and that kind of kindness they remembered.

"Over here!" she screamed back. "Desmond! I'm here! Please, help me!"

Then he was going down the slow, watching his steps and then he was finally there, right by her side.

"Desmond!" she called his name again, so happy to see his concerned face. He was truly worried about her. That did something wonderful to her stomach. Somebody, even if it was just one person, cared about her and was worried that she got hurt.

She couldn't stand on one foot anymore and the other hurt like hell, so she kind of collapsed into his arms and he caught her, hugging her tightly to his chest. She could feel his frantic heartbeat and the heat coming off of his body as it came in contact with hers. She could feel the warm of his breath against her temple. She was safe.

"I'm here. It's ok. It's all going to be ok. You're safe now," he whispered into her ear.

Then he raised her up and carried in his arms back to the camp.

* * *

><p>"It's just a minor sprain," Jack deduced when looking at Julie's leg. "Nothing's really necessary. It'll heal on its own. You just need to avoid standing on it for a couple of days, at least until the swelling goes down."<p>

"Thank you," she said to him with a small smile.

"You're welcomed. I'm just glad you're ok. We can't afford to lose people here. Call me if you need anything."

"I will."

In that moment Desmond came back with a bottle of water and some food.

"Oh, I'm starving!" Julie exclaimed at the sight of the food, but chose to go for water instead.

Desmond laughed as he was watching her drinking it all down.

"Care to tell me why you ventured out into the woods alone?" he elevated his eyebrow as he asked.

"It's all in the past now, Des. I'm ready to move on."

"Des?" he picked that up.

"Sorry, if you rather I call you by your full…"

"No, it's fine," he assured her and smiled to her. "Are you cold?"

"A little." She shrugged as she reached for the food.

Desmond pulled his arm around her and held her close to his side when she ate.

They just sat there in silence, watching the ocean in the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 03**

As much as Julie loved swimming in the ocean, the shower in the hatch certainly came useful. It was truly a wonderful feeling to be able to use real soap and shampoo and stand under the current of hot water.

As she finished her shower, she wrapped a towel around herself and left the cabin. Then she stilled as the bathroom door burst open, showing no one else but Desmond.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Julie screamed at him, making sure the towel around her was secured.

"I…" He seemed to be just as surprised as she was. "Sorry… I thought no one was here. The door wasn't locked."

"Well, it was locked, but it opens when you push too hard," she explained.

"Oh, sorry, then… I'll fix it."

"Good. Now, will you please leave and wait until I get dressed?"

"Yes, sorry again."

"Don't worry about it. Could happen to anyone." _And I'm glad it was you,_ she wanted to say when the door finally closed. Of course, she didn't say it out loud. They'd both been through too much emotional drama before they got to the island to start anything now. Especially in such a place, she thought. Although they wouldn't have to worry about hygiene or birth control, crossed her mind and she shook her head. She wouldn't jump into anything again like that. She would wait for the right man to find her, to make the first move. In her experience chasing after one wasn't a good plan. Besides, Desmond, though she liked the way he looked, the way he was speaking with that Scottish accent and as he'd burst into the bathroom she'd got a peak under his opened shirt, but… he was a friend. He was the one friend she had. And she'd never really had any real one. She wouldn't ruin that for something that might not last.

* * *

><p>Sometime after that, she met Hurley on the beach.<p>

"Hi, is everything ok?" she asked with care in her voice and in that moment she realized that Desmond was right about her. She did care about people and being attracted to someone or liking or not liking the way people looked had nothing to do with that particular feature of hers.

"Yeah… I was about to have my first date with Libby," he started and Julie barely stopped herself from showing off how surprised she truly was. Libby was slim, Libby was beautiful and she evidently liked Hurley. Well, Julie wouldn't give many thoughts to that. People surprised her sometimes and it was a good thing. "She went to get the blankets from the hatch and she's gone way too long."

"Wait… Hurley?" Kate came toward us and from the expression she was wearing, Julie knew immediately that something was wrong. "Hurley, I'm so sorry… Libby's been shot. Ana Lucia is dead. The man we kept prisoner escaped when shooting them and Michael."

Julie stood there, probably as shocked as Hurley, because something bothered her. Something…

"Oh my god…" her hands wandered up to her face to cover her mouth. "Is Desmond all right?" she asked Kate.

"Eh… and you are?" Kate frowned.

"It's Julie," Hurley, poor good Hurley, Julie thought, answered. "You don't know Julie? She and Desmond have been spending a lot of time together recently."

"Is he all right?" Julie asked Kate when grabbing her arm. She didn't care about delicacy anymore.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him for a while," Kate finally answered.

"He was supposed to fix the lock in the bathroom in the hatch!" Julie exclaimed. "Oh god… I was the one to ask him to! If something happened to him… I'm going with you."

"Sure, but we need to hurry," Kate just nodded.

"And I forgot the damned blankets," Julie heard Hurley's devastated voice. "And she went to get them… I…"

"It's not your fault, Hugo," Julie assured him when placing her small hand on his huge shoulder.

She saw him in the mid-way to the hatch.

"Desmond?" she asked his name like she couldn't yet believe that it was really him. That he was safe and sound.

"Something happened? I did fix the lock," he said, a little dumbfounded.

Kate and Hugo passed by them and Julie couldn't really blame them.

"I don't give a damn about the fucking lock!" Julie just exclaimed and jumped to Desmond, puting her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"Well… then what's this for?" she could hear his muffled voice on her hair. Though he did seem to enjoy the embrace.

"You mean you haven't heart?" she asked in a shaky voice when she pulled away and looked him in the eye. "They guy they had locked in a hatch escaped, he killed Ana Lucia and shot both Libby and Michael. Hurley's on the way there and… he was about to have a date with Libby… and I like Libby…" Julie just now began shaking as all that happened finally sunk it once she knew Desmond was ok. "And I thought… I thought you got hurt, too, because you were there earlier."

"It's all right. I'm fine. I'm fine," he assured her and pulled her into another hug.

She suddenly started wondering if he, too, saw her in a different light recently. Maybe he'd always been. There was certainly something between them that seemed to run deeper than just friendship. Unless this was exactly how friendship looked like and she just didn't know. One way or another, she chose to take it all slow and enjoy what she had at the moment.

"We need to see if they're ok," she said when taking his hand and leading him toward the hatch.

* * *

><p>"I thought that talking to someone new, getting to know them and liking them would help…" Julie said shakily to Desmond. "But all I feel now is pain. I liked Libby. She was so nice and we talked a few times… I thought we could get closer and now…"<p>

Desmond just put his arms around her.

"It's the way life goes, Julie. We do lose people. We will always lose people, but they give us so much more than pain. They make us feel while they're still with us."

* * *

><p>"Are you ok?" Desmond asked when finding Julie on her usual evening spot - on the beach, watching the ocean in the setting sun.<p>

"Do you realize that you keep asking this question nearly every time you see me?" she turned to him with a smile. "You should stop. I am fine… I was just thinking. A lot of things happened already on this island. And it's supposed to be deserted," she laughed at that. "Actually, things started happening to me once you came into my life. I feel like I'd been at impasse for over 50 days and then suddenly things just started happening to me. I became a part of a community thanks to you and somehow you made me leave my past behind. How did you do that?" she asked.

Desmond just shrugged. "I guess I have a positive influence on you." He smiled at her and she reciprocated.

"Is there something I can do for you for a change?" she asked in a serious voice. "Like… I don't know, help you deal with your own loss?"

"I already did that," Desmond confessed. "It's me that I can't deal with," he said ambiguously and then decided to explain, "Penny was a daughter of a rich and influential man. He never approved of me. He thought I was unworthy of her and that kind of… stuck," he confessed.

"It's not true," Julie told him.

"When you met me I was drinking," he gave her a perfect argument. "That wasn't a good first impression, was it?"

"Well, I haven't see you doing it ever since," she noticed.

"Because I don't have a problem with alcohol. Back then… I just needed something to ease the ache and disappointment with myself. I was ready to give up and then you came into my life, giving me a reason to go on. So I guess… you've already helped me, Julie." He faced her and for a moment they eyes locked, not really knowing how to read the look in each other. "I found a new sense thanks to you and I am going to prove that I am not a failure."

"I'm glad to hear that, but so you know, you don't need to prove anything to me. I never thought you were one."

"I need to prove it to myself, so I could believe it."

* * *

><p>"You still pushing that button?" Desmond asked Locke when the older man came to find him the next day.<p>

"I need your help in destroying it," the answer came and it intrigued Desmond for some reason. He'd been a slave to pushing that damn thing for three years. He hadn't had a decent night of sleep then. Even now, as he let it go, he still dreamt of pushing.

Maybe this was a way for him to prove something to himself. To deal with his past in the hatch. To let it go and to free himself.

* * *

><p>"Hi, Claire," Julie came to visit her new friend. "Do you know where everybody is?"<p>

The blonde raised her head from the cradle where she'd just put her son in.

"If you're asking about Desmond, he went somewhere with Locke," she said with a knowing smile.

"I wasn't and don't look at me like that," Julie said, what only earned her a laugh.

"Come on, you and Desmond are practically our new Adam and Eve."

"The what?" Julie frowned when sitting next to Claire.

"When we came to the caves the first time there were two bodies there and then we were calling Jack and Kate Adam and Eve for some time. I still can't believe there's actually nothing going on between the two of them. Their chemistry is so obvious!"

"Well, there's nothing going on between me and Desmond, too," Julie noticed.

"You would be great together and I think you like him a little too much."

"Maybe," Julie just shrugged, "but Claire, the truth is that I've had a pretty rough past when going after a guy that I wasn't supposed to be with. It didn't end well and now… I'm just cautious, that's all. And like hell I'm never going to make the first step ever again."

"They say when a boy really likes a girl, he's chasing after her," Claire smiled. "So you don't really need to do anything but wait patiently."

"So far no one's chasing after me. Now… where is everybody? You still haven't told me."

"Michael wanted to go get Walt and Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley went with him."

"Hurley, too?" That didn't seem like a good plan, Julie thought.

"I guess it's because of what happened to Libby."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, and then Sayid with Sun and Jim took Desmond's boat to meet them on the other side of the island."

"If you ask me, the boat trip seems much more pleasant than the trek."

"Agreed." Claire smiled.

For a moment Julie watched Aaron sleeping.

"Can I ask you something personal?" she suddenly blurted out.

"Sure. I guess we're about the same age, so we should stick together, be friends, you know? I wonder where you were hiding all this time. Kate is great, but she's always running after something and I'm just here, alone with Aaron."

"I was… lost," Julie answered ambiguously, but Claire seemed to understand. "I just wanted to know if you're happy about Aaron. I mean… I don't want it to sound rude, because you obviously love him, but you've been through so much pain and hardship because of this baby."

"Well, all I can say to you is that it's all worth it," Claire answered when tugging her baby. "I love him more than anything and it's the one person in this world that really belongs to me, at least until he grows up," she joked and they laughed together.

"I'm afraid of having kids," Julie suddenly confessed. "I hated them once and now… I just don't know. I've never been around them until Aaron and…"

Claire touched her hand and looked at her closely.

"When the time is right, you will be all right, Julie. I wish I could say when the right man comes into your life, but look how well that one turned out for me."

They laughed again and Julie was glad for Claire's sense of humor. At least it didn't feel as bad as she thought it would to ask about all that stuff.

"But it's true. Babies change your whole world and your whole perspective and it's not about you anymore, you know?" Claire went on. "But even though that change is scary, the love you feel is completely unconditional and I think it's worth it. Take it from me, I was so sure I would give him up and once I've given birth to him on this island… nothing will ever take him away from me. _Nothing_."

"Surprisingly enough, this island did a lot of good to us, don't you think?" Julie asked. "I don't want to sound crazy, but… I let go of all the pain of my past and realized all my mistakes. You know you want to keep your baby and if we hadn't crashed, you wouldn't have."

Claire nodded.

"Yeah, there's something mysterious about this place. I knew it from the beginning. Did you hear that Locke was on a wheel chair before?"

"Really?"

"The moment he was on the island, he could walk. I talked to Rose and she said she'd had cancer, the kind that would kill her within a year and now she seems fine."

"That's interesting…" Julie bit her lower lip. She really wanted to know why those things were happening to them and what was causing them. She'd just gotten her diploma and she still couldn't let go of the research work quite yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 04**

He figured it out all too late and once again proved himself to be nothing more than a failure. He told Locke that the button was real, but Locke still destroyed it.

There was only one way out of this now.

* * *

><p>"Do you want to hold him?" Claire suggested when handing Aaron over to Julie.<p>

"Oh, I don't know…" the girl hesitated. She seemed to be more scared of the baby than the baby was of her. Or maybe Aaron was just curious.

"Come on. You can't hurt him," Claire assured her friend. "I trust you, Julie. Just try it out."

Julie finally yielded and held Aaron just like Claire told her to. Surprisingly, holding a baby in her arms wasn't hard at all. Well, this part shouldn't actually be hard, she was scared of some of the others.

* * *

><p>Desmond inserted the key and turned.<p>

"I love yo…" he started, but he was interrupted by the overwhelming whiteness and noise.

* * *

><p>Everything suddenly went white and there was this deafening weird noise.<p>

Julie instinctively covered Aaron's ears, not caring about her own at the moment. The baby needed to protected because he couldn't do it for himself. He was too tiny, too dependent on others.

Finally, when whatever the hell it was, stopped, Claire got to Julie.

"He's fine. He's ok," Julie assured Claire, hoping that the blonde could hear her. The noise after all, seemed to leave their ears ringing. Good thing it didn't burst their eardrums.

Claire just nodded and voiced a silent thank you before she took Aaron and hugged him tightly.

"Claire, watch out!" Julie screamed and pushed her away as she spotted something flying in the air and then it landed with a loud thud in the sand.

It was the quarantine sign form the hatch.

When she spotted it, she started screaming until a moment later Charlie came running out of the jungle, covering his ears with his hands like he was still in pain.

"What happened?!" Both Julie and Claire got to the man.

"What happened to the hatch?!" that was Julie alone.

"Nothing happened," Charlie said. "We're ok. Everything's ok." He seemed to be in a small shock.

"Charlie, what happened in the hatch?" Julie repeated persistently.

"It… It imploded. There's no hatch anymore. I don't know how… I mean… Locke and Desmond… and it imploded…" he explained in jaded words.

Julie's worst fears came true and she just took off into the jungle.

"Julie!" Claire called after her, but Charlie stopper her.

"She'll be all right. Don't worry."

* * *

><p>The next thing he knew he was lying in a tall grass, completely naked.<p>

"… Julie," he said.

* * *

><p>Julie got to the hatch - or what was left from it - and covered her mouth with her hands. There was no hatch. It'd imploded just like Charlie had told her. It was just a hole in the ground now.<p>

"Desmond?" she asked when looking around. "Desmond!"

When she made a few more steps she heard him saying her name.

"Desmond?!" She ran toward the source of his voice. "Desmond, what happened?! Are you all right?!"

He finally looked around and registered what was happening around him and that he was in the jungle and not in the hatch anymore.

Then he raised to his feet.

"Wow!" Julie exclaimed and quickly looked away. "You're naked!"

He looked down on himself and then he hid behind a tree.

"I did it!" he exclaimed in exaltation. "You were right! I can do something right! I'm not a failure!"

"Because you're out in the jungle, naked?" Julie asked in a teasing voice. She could only joke now. And pretend her face wasn't burning, that was. At least he was all right, she thought. It could've been worse. He could've been dead.

Suddenly, she started laughing and she couldn't stop. The whole situation was comical to her.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I think I'm in some kind of a hysteria right now," she admitted. "I was screaming, then frantically looking for you _again_, mind you! And now… Now I'm just laughing because I can't cry about my life anymore!" She finally managed to calm herself down and took a deep breath. "So, can you tell me what happened?"

"Locke destroyed the computer," Desmond explained from his place behind a tree. "And it was a mistake, because there was a magnet and the code protected us from it. Luckily for me, I had a key that could end it all and I could only hope I was right. And it did work!"

"Great, that's… great… yeah… terrific," Julie said and nodded, looking everywhere but at him. Her face burning even more.

"Could you bring me some clothes? At least some pants?" Desmond finally asked.

"That won't be enough," she murmured under her nose when she turned away to walk back to the camp.

"What was that?" he asked, clearly not having heard her.

"Right away!" she corrected herself, thankful that they weren't in this awkward situation any longer. What had possessed her to ask him about what happened right then and there anyway? Couldn't she fucking wait till they'd be safe and _clothed _back in the camp? She shook her head.

"Charlie," Julie made her way to the camp and then to him and Claire. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it? Have you found Desmond?"

"Yes and he needs… he needs pants and a shirt. Yes, definitely bring a shirt, too," she said.

Charlie frowned. "He what?"

"He saved us, Charlie. He's the reason why we're still here. But the hatch imploded and Desmond suddenly found himself naked in the jungle. Can you bring him those clothes?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Charlie shrugged. "I guess weirder things happened on this island. Like polar bears," he added when retreating.

"So," Claire asked when I sat down next to her, "did you take a good look?"

Julie didn't have to ask what the blonde was talking about. The image of Desmond's naked body, even if she'd looked away way too fast to see it all in details, haunted her.

"No, not really," she said. "I was too embarrassed."

"But you liked what you saw. I can tell from the look on your face." Claire laughed.

Julie guessed she was still fairy blushed. "I did," she admitted with a sign. "No point in lying anyway."

The boys came back shortly after that.

"Would you mind if I repair the hole in your roof?" Desmond asked Claire and everyone looked at him like he was crazy. It was a really weird question when considering that Desmond and Claire didn't talk much, if ever.

"My roof is fine," Claire said. "But thanks."

Julie noticed the almost imperceptible frown on Desmond's face and then he bit his lower lip as he was thinking hard about something and walked away.

"Desmond?" She caught up with him. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah."

"What that was all about?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to be helpful."

He finally turned to look at her when they were at the shore and he began throwing pebbles into the water.

"I can see that something bothers you." Julie wouldn't give us so easily.

"I survived something nearly impossible to get out of," he told her when looking at her again. "And I can't explain why I woke up naked in the jungle next to the hatch when I was inside it, causing the implosion."

"There are weird things happening on this island," Julie just said, nearly mimicking Charlie. "Just before the implosion… I held Aaron for first time," she suddenly confessed, because she needed to share that information with someone. "I've never really held a baby in my arms before."

Desmond stopped throwing pebbles and looked at her with interest. "How did it feel?"

"I don't really know… the point is that right after that there was this blinding light and the almost unbearable to the ears sound. And you know what I did?"

"Tell me," he encouraged, but he seemed to already know.

"I protected him. All that mattered was protecting his life, not mine," I confessed.

"I knew it was in you," Desmond said when placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently.

Julie just smiled in response.

* * *

><p>A lot happened in the next few hours.<p>

Hurley came back, telling the survivors about the others abducting Kate, Jack and Sawyer and Locke gave a speech about how they would get them all back.

Then Desmond built a strange construction right next to Claire's tent.

Julie was standing by the food tent with Hurley, both trying to decide whether Desmond simply went crazy.

"Are you into some new kind of art?" Charlie asked from his position next to Claire.

"It's just an experiment, brother," Desmond answered and joined Julie and Hurley.

And then the lightening stoke. Exactly where the construction was. Desmond had built a lightening-conductor. But the question was how he'd known it would hit that exact spot…?


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 05**

Julie had enough. She'd been doing just fine before, close to her breaking point, yes, but she'd managed. There was nothing she could do about being stranded on the island, so there was truly no point in sulking.

Now she had enough.

She'd set on a trip with a couple of survivors to a station called Pearl. Probably the only reason to why she'd gone was that Desmond had gone, too (by the way, she thought, why wouldn't he just button up the whole shirt?! The sight of his slightly exposed chest make it difficult for her to focus. She did notice that his muscles were nice, gained from hard work on the island and not from the endless hour workout in the gym like her ex). She also might've come because of boredom. There truly wasn't much to do on the beach.

Still, there was no black mysterious smoke on the beach. They were all relatively safe there. They weren't in the jungle. Now that realization hit her full on as she was a witness to Mr. Eko's death.

"What's wrong with this island?!" she suddenly exclaimed when seeing the dead and battered body. "What keeps hunting us down and killing us?! I've had enough! I just want to go home!" She knew she was being childish at the moment, but she couldn't help it. It was just too much. Her whole life she'd been safe. She'd had an apartment, a safe place to live in. She'd finished college. Even when she'd flied to Australia she'd still felt that safety and comfort of the modern world. Even when her heart had been broken, she'd felt it. And then the plane had crashed and she couldn't feel it anymore. She knew that planes sometimes crashed, but the odds were nearly impossible for her to be in one, especially when she didn't fly that much. Yet, it had happened to her. She had survived a plane crash. It should've been a miracle, truly. Instead, it'd transformed out into a completely new nightmare. Even worse than the place falling itself. This one was going on and on and no one could stop it. This one was there when she was sleeping and when she was awake. Something on this island was dangerous. Something that clearly was supernatural even if they all refused to believe it. How else could any of them explain the black smoke and the weird sounds it carried?

"Why did I have to get on that stupid plane?!" Julie went on screaming. "I should've known not to accept anything that that man bought me! I just wanna go home!" She was crying now and both Sayid and Locke just stood there, not really knowing what to do in such a situation. Then there was the couple that she didn't know that had decided to come along. It looked like the girl made a step toward Julie, probably wanting to comfort her, but then she didn't have to, because Desmond was there by Julie's side. Desmond was taking her into his arms as she sobbed. He nearly made her feel safe again, but then she felt that his shirt was wet what meant perspiration what meant excessive humidity what meant that it wasn't home. It was the bloody island and she would never be safe there. Not really. Safety was just an illusion.

"You're safe," Desmond whispered into her ear when holding her. "You'll be ok."

"You can't possibly know that!" she said and pulled away from his embrace. "Eko did say we would be next. I'm not safe. None of us is! You won't help me if the smoke comes for me! You won't be able to stop it!"

"Locke has a theory that it lets those with pure hearts go and the only thing you've done wrong, Julie, was falling for the wrong guy. And still, he was the one to hurt you!" Desmond was persistent.

"You don't know what I did," Julie just said. "You just don't know me that well. There was so hate in my life before! Hate for people, for kids, for everyone! And I was so egoistical!

"You're not anymore," Desmond calmly answered.

"But I was and you can't just wipe that clean."

"You can," he disagreed again. "You did exactly that when you decided to change."

She just shook her head and walked away.

"Julie, you can't go back alone!" he called after her.

"See? Not safe at all!" she shouted back, but did not stop. Soon enough Desmond caught up with her.

The whole way back to the camp they didn't talk. Julie decided to stop thinking altogether, to just be numb. Desmond, for a change, promised himself to do anything in his power to get her out of this hellhole, even if he would have to pay with his life for that.

* * *

><p>When they were back in the camp, Julie retreated to the shore and just sat there alone like she'd used to before she met Desmond. It was getting dark fast and she knew she should go to her tent and try to fall asleep. After all, it was a tiring day. Still, she couldn't bring herself to move.<p>

The night was rather a cold one and she shivered. Then suddenly there was a blanket being wrapped around her and Desmond joined her.

"I think I'm truly hysteric now, Des," she said when he remained quiet. "I don't know how I can keep doing this. How long I can stay on this island and not go crazy."

"You're not crazy," he told her.

"Really?" she asked bitterly as she looked at him. "I'm completely numb, then I'm screaming, laughing and finally crying. It is hysteria."

"I'm here," he simply said. "You're not alone anymore. You have me to hold on to, Julie." Then he put his arms around her, bringing her closer to his body, trying to give her his strength and faith though touch. "Something tells me that you will get out of this island and you will be happy," he said.

"Does it have something to do with the fact that you seemed to predict the lightening strike and the hole in Claire's roof?" she asked, curious about that one as she snuggled closer into his body.

"Maybe," she got an ambiguous answer.

"Desmond," her voice grew serious, "when are you going to be honest with me?"

"When you'll be able to handle it," he said and she actually understood.

She already suspected something and right now she just couldn't hear it. Right now she was just too weak for it.

Desmond didn't really know if she would get home, but he would make damn sure that happened. He would do anything for her.

He noticed that she fell asleep in his arms and he gently picked her up and carried her to her tent. He resisted the urge of lying down next to her and holding her in his arms for the whole night. Instead he just kissed her cheek and left, taking guard outside, so she would be safe.

* * *

><p>The next day only turned out worse for Julie, because Claire nearly drowned and then Desmond saved her. How he'd heart her calling for help from the jungle when no one on the beach had, that was beyond any capacity.<p>

It was only when Hurley said, "Dude can see the future," and when Julie actually heard Desmond telling Charlie he was going to die that she got mad. Apparently, Charlie had supposed to die struck by the lightening and then when saving Claire from drowning.

"What is wrong with you?!" Julie confronted Desmond. "You can't just predict someone's death! You can't just walk around telling people they're going to die!"

"I don't tell people. I just told one person," Desmond said in a calm voice. "And I happen to be right, Julie. I said you weren't ready to handle it and I was right about that, too," he added, this time sadly.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" she rebuffed.

"Why won't you believe me if you've seen the evidence yourself?"

"I used to believe the impossible and I still do," she finally said in a much calmer tone when closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. She seemed tired. "I believe that there is a certain person destined for us. The so-called one and that we would eventually find that person. I believe that we have certain gifts, talents and we need to use them and they determine our future. But I do not believe that someone can predict someone's death, Desmond. Centuries ago people were dying like flies because there was no medicine, now we can sometimes cure even the most helpless cases."

"It doesn't mean anything. Is someone is meant to…" Desmond started again, but she stopped him.

"I wrote to a few fortune tellers in my life," she confessed, "and guess what? None of them was right. They just kept telling me what I wanted to hear at the moment. They had a certain gift, I give them that, because they never actually saw me or talked to me live and yet, they knew what I wanted, what I was planning to do, but this has nothing to do with foretelling the future."

"Still, I…" Des started and was interrupted once again.

"I believe we make our own luck. And also, I believe that faith can move mountains. If you believe something bad is going to happen, it happens, the other way around is more tricky and requires more faith, but this can happen, too. I know, I did that one already, although I never saw the consequences."

"So believe in _me_!" Desmond asked in desperation. "Have faith in _me_!"

"No, Desmond," Julie just shook her head, "I can't. You believe that someone will die and I will not help you make that happen."

"Julie, just please…"

"Stay away from me, all right?" she asked, although it hurt her to ask him that. It truly hurt her.

* * *

><p>The next few days weren't easy for Julie. She didn't want to upset Claire, so she didn't tell her what she knew. She only said that she and Desmond had had a serious fight.<p>

Because it was serious. Something seemed to break them apart and Julie didn't see any way to mend it back together. She felt like she lost her friend because she lost faith in him, but she knew better. What he was asking her was impossible to understand. She couldn't accept it when she'd experienced so much by now. Yes, there were supernatural things involved, but never this crazy. She could believe that Desmond had had a brief flashes of things that were going to happen, she could. There were people in this world that had true talent. But she wouldn't believe that Charlie was meant to die. It wasn't _Final Destination_, it was reality.

"Julie?" Desmond finally came over to her as she ate dinner. "Can I talk to you?"

"I told you to stay away from me," she said, although her voice quivered. She truly hated being away from this man. From the man she'd not only been friends with, but she'd also started developing serious feelings for. Now it was all ruined. One more pointless relationship in her failure of a life. Maybe on their own way, they really were alike.

"Please. There is something I _need _to tell you. Just listen to me and then, if you still like me gone, I will never bother you again." There was such a finality in his voice that it caused her to tremble. It would really hurt her if he just left without saying what he was going to say, unless…

"Does it have something to do with Charlie?" she asked.

"No. It has something to do with us."

She released a sign, but did not protest when he sat down right next to her.

"I never told you what happened after the implosion in the hatch."

"You woke up in the jungle," she followed with the answer, avoiding the word 'naked'. She really didn't need that image in her head right now.

"I thought so, but recently I began remembering places I was to when it happened."

"Desmond, I don't understand you," she just said in a helpless tone of voice.

"I don't expect you to. Even I don't understand it fully, but… I just wanted to tell you that I was… I saw…" he stopped, clearly thinking how to say it.

"I already think you're crazy, so just get over yourself and tell me," she encouraged him. "I promise I will listen to the very end." She felt sorry for him. He clearly seemed so lost. Like they all were, but this was different.

"I was in the past," he said. Oh, yes, Julie thought, definitely different. He seemed to be lost in _time_.

She figured he had enough of her telling him she didn't understand, so she just remained silent, waiting to hear more.

"I was in a small cafe, the name was…" he squinted his eyes like he was trying to remember something very foggy. "Figaro, I believe," he finally said. "I was sitting inside whereas you and two other girls were close to the door. You were talking and laughing, probably about something that happened in school or on campus. You seemed happy, although when I took a closer look at your face, you were sad beneath that façade, disappointed and hurt."

He stopped for a moment and she still didn't say anything, she just hugged herself.

"You were eating a dessert," he continued, "chocolate and vanilla ice cream, I figured from the look of it, with some dressing and whipped cream. When you were all about to leave, you asked those girls to wait for you as you went further into the café to use the bathroom. I chose that moment to stand up and we kind of bumped into each other. I remembered you were wearing a green skirt and a black shirt, rimmed with lace. On your neck was a necklace with a green stone. When we ran into each other, the necklace landed on the floor. I remember that you smiled to me apologetically and said you were sorry. Before you managed to walk into the bathroom, I called after you and gave you the necklace. You were so happy that I noticed it fell. You said it was your favorite."

Julie just sat there, struck with something that seemed impossible, yet… she could remember it!

"How… no, you apparently saw me three years ago and remembered it. That's not a proof…" She frowned.

"Really?" he simply asked and then watched her face in an even bigger frown.

"Impossible…" she finally exhaled and when she looked at him, he saw tears in her eyes. "How… I mean… I was there with my friends and I wore exactly what you described, but… I never saw you nor I bumped into you. I went straight to the bathroom and then I noticed the necklace had a broken clasp… Still… I can clearly remember a moment that is the same but different… I remember… I didn't pay any notice to men around me back then as I had my eyes set only on one… stupid silly me, but anyway... How could I remember bumping into a man who told me I lost my necklace and in the same time remember not doing it and losing it in the bathroom?" she gasped.

"Because I changed the memory you already had. I really saw the past. I really met you, Julie."

"Then why didn't you tell me to stop chasing the man that would never make me happy? Why didn't you tell me never to go to Australia so I wouldn't be on that plane?" Julie asked, confused.

"When I was there… I didn't… I didn't actually remember the island and everything connected to it. I just… I knew you. I had those flashes of you and I needed to see you, to talk to you, even if briefly. I was confused when it happened and didn't really know what to do or how to act afterwards. When you left that café, everything went white and suddenly I was somewhere else. There was an old woman and she told me that I have to go to the island, that I can't change anything, that it was my fate to push that bloody button for three years and then…"

"And then what?" Julie prompted, curious of what he was about to say.

"Then meet you," he confessed when looking at her.

They were looking into each other's eyes for a moment, but none of them said what they really wanted to hear.

"Some things just have to happen to us," Desmond went on. "I wouldn't be able to keep you from this island even if I really wanted to. It's just beyond my power. Charlie's death is also beyond my power and I'm so lost, Julie. I don't know what to do. Shall I keep saving him? That woman told me that if I do that, then the person will die anyway, that he will slip in the shower, something will fall on him… I'm just… I don't know… Why do I have this knowledge if I can't do anything about it?" He hid his face in his hands and she felt terrible for having abandoned him.

She truly wanted to comfort him. She wanted to make it all better, but there was one last thing she needed to check.

They were right next to her tent so she went in and brought something with her.

"Which one?" she asked Desmond as she opened her vanity bag.

Desmond looked inside and then he just grabbed the right one without a moment of hesitation. There were two green stones in her bag and he grabbed the right one. The one she'd been wearing that day.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched him gently touching the necklace and showing her the exact spot when it'd broken back then.

"Did I restore your faith?" Desmond just asked when putting the rock back into her bag.

"I'm sorry, Des," she said. "I'm sorry I ever turned my back on you."

"It's ok. I understand. It's was too much to take in at once."


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 06**

It was all happening so fast out of the sudden that Julie had troubles wrapping her brain around it. There was a boat near the island. A boat that was their ticket home. The problem was the jammed transmission and the message that Rousseau had recorded sixteen years ago. If that wasn't enough, Juliet, the new addition to the team, revealed that the others were coming again.

The survivors quickly divided themselves into three groups. One would go to the radio tower to stop Rousseau's message, one would stay on the beach with the dynamite ready to blow up the others and one, the smallest since it consisted only of Desmond and Charlie, would go to the underwater station called Pearl and deal with the blocked frequency.

Julie wanted to stay on the beach despite the upcoming threat. She wanted to be there when Desmond would come back to her. She refused to think that it might actually not happen. What she was dreadfully sure of was that Charlie was going to his death. Somehow it all made a terrifying sense now. Desmond couldn't understand why he had those flashes of Charlie dying. He also couldn't stop saving him despite the knowledge that there was nothing he could do for his friend in the end, but he couldn't let him die and stand watching either. Maybe this was his purpose, to keep Charlie alive long enough for him to manage to swim into the Pearl. After all, Charlie was the only one who could hold his breath for whole four minutes.

"Desmond!" Julie called to him when he was ready to leave. "I…" she said when she finally got to him and then stopped, not really knowing how to say what she wanted him to know. "I can't lose you. Please, be careful," she finally told him.

Desmond looked at her with a soft expression in his eyes and then he suddenly leaned toward her and his lips touched hers. It came as a surprise to her, but a very nice one. She suddenly realized that she'd been waiting for him to do this possibly since the moment they'd met. When it was right, one just knew. Still, when it was right, one had the faith that it would happen eventually and there was nothing they had to do to make it happen. Julie now knew all the difference between an illusion and something that was actually real.

Because it had to be real. It was just a small kiss, but she felt everything that she was supposed to feel.

Then Desmond stopped the kiss and their foreheads rested against each other. He looked into her eyes from up close and confessed, "I crashed on this island twice for a reason. And that reason is you." After having said that, he pulled away with the intention to leave.

"Desmond…" she called him again, overwhelmed by everything she felt, not able to say anything else but his name.

"I'll come back to you, I promise." He smiled to her sadly and then, he finally left.

Only she knew that he couldn't be sure that he would be back. She knew that what he was about to do was dangerous, but she also knew she couldn't stop him. He needed to be there for Charlie. He wouldn't abandon him at such a moment and she wouldn't dare asking him to.

All she had left to do was to go with the rest. Still, she was angry that she wasn't allowed to stay. She wanted to see Desmond immediately if… when, she corrected herself, he would come back.

* * *

><p>"Don't worry, he'll be all right," Claire tried to comfort Julie on their way to the tower.<p>

Julie wanted to say the same in return so badly, but she knew she couldn't. It would just be cruel for Claire.

"What if it all happened for a reason?" Julie suddenly asked her friend.

"What?" Claire wasn't really following.

"Before he went with Charlie, Desmond told me that he crashed on this island so he could meet me."

"That was very romantic of him and I think it's actually true," Claire admitted.

"As I think of it, me, too! Maybe I was meant to go after the wrong guy under the illusion that I was in love with him and through him, meet Desmond? Maybe you're here because you were meant to keep Aaron and meet Charlie? He's so strong, Claire. He's dealt with a drug problem, partially because of you."

"I don't know," Claire admitted. "I never really believed in fate much, but then… I saw a psychic when I found out I was pregnant and believe it or not, he told me that I absolutely must keep the baby. Then when I still wanted to give Aaron for adoption, he called me in the middle of the night and told me to board the Oceanic 815. He told me there was a couple in America that could take care of my baby. When I crashed I figured he knew what would happen."

Julie went silent for a moment, processing what she just learnt. She was only more sure now that it was fate. And Desmond was the one who'd restored her faith in it.

* * *

><p>The further from the camp they were, the more anxious Julie was growing. She was worried. She didn't want to leave the beach. She just wanted to come back there!<p>

And then she saw Hurley slowing down so he was left behind. It might just be because he was heavy and couldn't keep up, but Julie seemed to feel it was a different case. The others would surely think he would catch up eventually and couldn't wait for him.

"Hugo, what are you doing?" she asked when getting to him after she'd made a show of staying behind in order to tie up her shoes.

"You want to come back to Desmond, don't you?" he just asked and she nodded, stupefied.

"Come with me, then. I have a plan!"

Julie didn't anticipate that Hurley's plan would be both crazy and brilliant in the same time.

He'd apparently discovered an old Darma car in the jungle and fixed it. Now they drove it straight to the beach, effectively saving everyone who was left behind and captured by the others. Hugo ran one of them over and then Julie got out of the car, spotting the man's gun lying in the sand. She picked it up and aimed at the man who still had Sayid, Jin and Bernard tied up.

"Julie, shoot!" Sayid told her, but she just couldn't pull the trigger. She couldn't take a life. She didn't have it in her.

Before she managed to register what was happening, Sayid kicked the man and grabbed him with his feet and then… broke his neck with his thighs!

Julie could just stand there in a deep shock and unable to move for a moment. She vaguely registered Sawyer and Juliet getting to the camp, the guy taking the gun from her hand.

"You ok?" Sawyer asked her and she barely nodded when she heard Hurley contacting Jack on the walkie talkie.

"Hey, it turns out Charlie is a hero!" Hurley called to the rest of the people on the beach. "The help's on the way!"

It was truly hard to believe those words, yet they were real.

There was nothing left for Julie to do at the moment but to wait for Desmond to come back to her. He _had _to come back!

* * *

><p>Eventually, the small canoe came back and there was only one person inside. It didn't come as a surprise to Julie that Charlie didn't come back, still, she felt a heavy weight on her chest. Charlie was such a good and brave guy. She really felt sorry for Claire. She could only imagine what it would be like for her blonde friend. She wouldn't deal if she lost Desmond now and that nearly made her cry for Claire's lost.<p>

Julie couldn't think of an alternative in which Des wouldn't come back, so as she finally saw him clearly, stepping on the shore, all wet from the ocean, she jumped to her feet and ran straight toward him.

He spotted her right away. His eyes had probably been searching for her the moment the beach had come into his view. He opened his arms for her and Julie threw herself into them, hugging him tightly, holding onto his neck, pressing her whole body against him, not bothered by the fact that he was wetting her. All that mattered was that he was there, by her side, living and breathing.

They stood like that, embraced, for a very long time. They didn't talk. Time for that would come later. And there was so much to talk about. So much to explain. Only not at this very moment.

When Julie finally let him go, her hand naturally fit inside his and they turned to face the rest of the survivors, to make their way to them. In the very same time Jack and the rest came back from the radio tower.

With Claire. Julie immediately registered.

"Oh god," Julie whispered at the sight of her friend's face. Claire must've noticed by now that Charlie wasn't with them. She must've understood that he was dead.

They finally came over to her and Desmond was the one to speak. "Claire, I… I'm so sorry. Charlie is… gone. I… I couldn't safe him…" his voice broke over those words. "I wanted to so badly, but… I just couldn't."

"I know that you did what you could," Claire just nodded, her own voice breaking, too.

Julie truly admired her friend's strength and the fact that she was still able to tell Desmond that he shouldn't feel guilty.

"Des, I think I…" Julie started when turning to him, but he seemed to know what she was going to say.

"Of course. Go. I'll wait."

Julie knew Claire needed her at the moment. She needed someone to help her through those first hours since she found out the truth. Desmond could wait. Desmond was alive. Charlie was not.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Claire said after a very long time of crying in Julie's arms. "For being here for me."<p>

"It's what friends do," Julie just said.

"I know you'd rather be somewhere else right now, so I appreciate it that much more."

Julie shook her head and spoke the truth, "Claire, I love you, you're my best friend and I wanted to be here for you. You needed me and I knew that."

"I love you, too, friend," Claire said in a touched voice and suddenly Julie was afraid she would start crying again. "And that is why I need you to go to him. I need some sleep anyway. I need to forget even if for the moment."

Julie just nodded and eventually, she left the tent.

* * *

><p>Desmond was waiting for her on their usual spot on the shore, facing the ocean.<p>

"We need to talk," she said as she stood next to his sitting figure. Then she finally joined him on the sand. "What happened back there…" she started, but then suddenly, he looked at her and said, "I love you."

He surprised her with that confession and for a moment there she was just looking into his eyes, stunned. Finally, his words sank in and she smiled to him. "I love you, too," she said back and was once again was amazed by how easy things were when they were right. A kiss, three simple words, a promise for the future. That was how it was supposed to be.

Then they simply kissed again and soon after that they got up and Desmond walked with her to her tent.

He was just about to leave her there alone when she grasped his hand and pulled him back inside.

"Stay," she said. Again, simply.

"I'm not sure you…" he started awkwardly, not wanting to push her into something she might not be ready for.

"We can all die tomorrow," Julie said, but then she laughed at her own words, "well, actually… we'll be probably saved tomorrow as we made contact with that boat, but you know what I'm trying to say here. There is no time to waste. Charlie just died today and… and it made me realize how fragile a life can be. We survived a plane crash and that was truly a miracle, Desmond. We found each other and that is another one."

"Yes," he agreed, "but are you sure you want to risk it?"

She finally understood what he was hinting at and she laughed again.

"Suitcase full of lingerie and birth control, remember?" she asked him. "I still have a few boxes."

"Why didn't you stop taking them?" he asked in surprise as he settled down next to her in her tent.

"You want an honest answer?" she sighed and he nodded. "They stop ovulation and when there's no ovulation, there's no pain. At least when it comes to me. Plus, the pills make my period regular and the bleeding is minimal what saves what little hygienic stuff we, women, could salvage form the wreck," she finished explaining. She'd never thought she would tell a man about things like that, but with Desmond she felt like she could talk about everything. "I just hope you're not turned off now by all this lady private issues," she joked.

"I'm not. Trust me," he assured her and kissed her again. Finally, she thought, pulling him on top of her. "I'm just grateful," he added and smiled against her lips.

"Do you have any idea what that freaking open shirt of yours was doing to me?! You've been driving me crazy when wearing it! Couldn't you just button it up the whole way?" she complained when she touched it.

"Well," he chuckled, clearly pleased with the fact that he had such an effect on her, "you can take if off now and have all that's underneath."

"I'd like that." She smiled at him naughtily and her hands were already working on the remaining buttons.

"No bra?" there was evident surprise in his voice as he took off Julie's shirt. "I thought you had a lot of bras, but it's good since you bought them for someone else."

"I bought them for myself," Julie corrected. "Apparently, men don't pay as much attention to exclusive underwear as much as I thought."

"True," Desmond said. "This is much more sexy."

They both laughed.

"Well, maybe, but the only reason to why I'm not wearing any is that I don't like to sleep in one."

* * *

><p>When Julie woke up, Desmond was still sleeping by her side with one arm draped over her body. She enjoyed that possessive gesture. It was surely something new. She smiled at the memories from last night. Sex with Desmond, a man she'd truly grown to love, was so much better than the few times with the wrong guy were. Love truly changed everything. And last night was truly the best night of her life. Her cheeks reddened as she realized that it was one of many to come. Maybe even better ones. She could only imagine what kind of ecstasy she would be in once she and Desmond got to know their bodies better and better.<p>

"You're my reason, too," she whispered when watching him.

"What?" he suddenly asked, opening his eyes.

"I thought you were sleeping," she said when he looked at her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Just woke up," he answered. "So, what were you talking about?"

"You're the reason I crashed on this island. The reason I was on the plane. Maybe even the reason to my obsession with that jerk. Why else would I be so blind? All that time I was chasing my happy ending and it was you all along. Destiny truly works in mysterious ways."

"Aye," Desmond agreed when smiling. "I, too, was making my way to you all my life. What's real doesn't come easily."

"Oh, tell me about it!" She straddled him and started kissing again as her hands kept on wandering all over his delicious chest and lower until she finally took him inside her.

They had sex again and it was again, mind-blowing. The only inconvenience was that they couldn't be too loud. There were people on the beach and a little baby. The tent wasn't a proof for the sound at all.

When afterwards they just lay together, enjoying each other, Desmond suddenly asked, "What will we do once they rescue us?"

"What do you mean?" Julie asked when shifting until she supported herself on her elbow and looked at his face. "I kind of assumed we would stay together…"

"Of course we will," Desmond calmed her down. "But… I don't have a job and you've just got your degree. I can't be unemployed, but I have no idea how to find a job that would provide for you the way you…"

"Wait a sec!" Julie raised her voice and sat up. "I don't need you to _provide _for me! I need you because I love you."

"I know, but... I don't want to be a disappointment as a man. Here everything's great, because we don't really have money, but there, back to civilization…"

"I don't care what kind of a job you will have or if you will have one. I don't care how much you'll be earning either!" she cut him short. "Don't you get it? I'm one of the survivors of the flight 815. I'm sure there's be damages the Oceanic would pay me."

"Oh, yeah, _that_… I didn't think…" Desmond admitted.

"And don't you ever dare to think of yourself as a failure ever again. I love you and it's all that matters, understood?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 07**

It was supposed to work out just fine. They were supposed to get out of the island and come back to their lives or start new ones. Instead, before they managed to come back for the rest of the survivors, the island… disappeared. Julie knew Locke and Ben were plotting something, but she'd never believed it was something like this. No one could ever find the island, she heard, no one could ever try to explore it for its miracles. It was to remain sacred.

There were only eight of them now: Julie with Desmond, Kate, Jack, Sayid, Hurley and Sun. Jin had never made it back to the boat and Aaron… Aaron was now in Julie's arms as Claire had disappeared shortly before the first chopper took off.

Julie truly had no idea what to do with this baby. She thought like she owed it to Claire to take care of him, but she wasn't sure she was ready for it. Then Jack said they would have to lie. He was right, Julie thought. After all, no one would ever believe them that the island just… disappeared.

"One of us would hate to take care of Aaron, too," Jack said what they were all thinking. "We can't just give him away… We owe it to Claire to make sure he's safe and happy."

"I could say it's my child," Julie suggested before she actually thought about it. "Oh, no, sorry, I can't," she apologized shortly afterwards. "I was… involved with the wrong person before I landed on the island and I don't want that bastard to think that Aaron's his."

"It's all right," Jack said. "If he ordered a paternity test then everything would be out in the open. They would know you aren't the mother, so you can't take him."

"I'll take him," Kate proposed. "Let's say I was six months pregnant when I landed on the island."

"All right. Then that's settled."

Julie snuggled more closely into Desmond. She was so grateful that he was there with her. That they made it out together. That they were both fine and they were going home. Still, it wasn't perfect. There was that uneasiness in the pit of her stomach, something telling her that leaving the rest behind was wrong. There was nothing they could've done since the island wasn't where it'd used to be anymore, but still…

"It's be all right," Desmond whispered into her ear like he could sense what she was worrying about. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. I'll make you happy."

"You already do," Julie just said and kissed him briefly.

* * *

><p>Just like that they became the famous Oceanic Seven. The survivors of the catastrophic flight 815. Desmond was introduced as a man that had shipwrecked on the island long before them. It was because of that that he wasn't being interviewed at the press conference. Instead, he was patiently waiting by the back door. They had time. They had future ahead of them. There was no need to rush. And the damages Julie would be paid was really impressive.<p>

It happened right when the conference ended. Julie got up from her seat and made her way to Desmond when she was stopped by no one other than the one man she never wanted to see again.

"Julie!"

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a slight surprise. She couldn't be more sure now that he was the biggest mistake of her life. A mistake that had led her toward something amazing, but a mistake nevertheless.

"I just want to talk to you. I feel awful about what happened. You were on that plane because of me and…" he started.

"Just go," she said and tried to walk right pass him, but he grasped her arm to stop her.

"Is there a problem here?" Desmond asked when getting to them, concern evident on his face.

"No, not a problem," the man said, clearly thinking Desmond must've been a security guard. "The lady and I were just talking."

"No, you don't understand!" Julie snapped at the unwelcomed guest and set herself free from his touch. "He's with me." Desmond's protective arm immediately draped around her.

"Few months on a deserted island and you just needed to spread your legs for someone," the professor teased, losing control, clearly not liking that Julie had moved on and wasn't pining for him.

Desmond was just about to hit the man, but Julie was faster when slapping him hard across the face, surprising them both.

"How dare you?!" she spat. "You little piece of shit! You want to know the truth?! The plane crashing was the best fucking thing that ever happened to me because it freed me of you! That ticket was by far the best thing you've ever given me! Yes, it has!" she repeated when she was met with a completely dumbstruck face. "I rather crash again than spend any more time in your company, so excuse me!" She turned around when taking Desmond's hand and they finally walked through the back door, avoiding press.

"Hate to tell you this, love," Desmond said when chuckling, "but I guess they already have a lot of pictures. Tomorrow you'll be in the papers."

"Good!" Julie said. "It will be such a bad press for that asshole!"

Desmond laughed again.

"I love you," he just said when putting his arm around her.

* * *

><p>Whole three years passed by and Julie thought her life was pretty good at the moment. Every day she woke up next to her husband, Desmond. They both had jobs right now that felt more or less fulfilling. They'd bought a house about two and a half year ago, using the money Julie had received from the Oceanic settlement. They were happy.<p>

Still, the nightmares about the terror they'd endured on the island still haunted them at nights. They had each other to turn to for comfort and that would have to be enough. They couldn't truly talk to any professional, because no one would believe them from obvious reasons. Julie was glad that Kate was present in her life as she could talk to her as to a friend. They hadn't been very close back on the island, in fact, they'd barely known each other, but Aaron seemed to bring them together. It'd been nice when Kate had been engaged to Jack and they'd dropped by pretty often with Aaron. Jack and Desmond always liked each other, so they continued their tradition and were meeting at least twice a month. That had ended when Kate had been forced to break up with Jack, unfortunately.

And now she was sitting on a couch in Julie's living room. She'd brought Aaron over and apologized for dropping by unannounced. Julie would've been truly happy to see her if it hadn't been for the concerned look on Kate's face.

"Julie, I'm coming back to the island," she informed.

Desmond chose the exact moment to walk inside as he just came back from work.

"Kate," he said her name, quite surprised to see her there.

"Desmond." She smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes, and then got up to shake his hand. "How are you?"

"How dare you?"Julie suddenly asked and also stood up.

"What?" Kate looked at her in surprise. "What do you…"

"You know exactly what I mean! How dare you come here after Jack had been bothering us for weeks! Do you have any idea that he kept calling Desmond, telling him that we all need to go back to the island?! Add to that, he was drunk every time he contacted us!"

"I know that and I am so sorry," Kate apologized. "He's been bothering me, too."

"And he succeeded. You're going back."

"You…" Desmond started to get angry, but Julie could also see a different emotion on his face. And it was fear. He was scared she would be convinced in the end. He was scared that he would lose her. That she would come back with Kate and the rest. "You can't possibly ask us to come back! We have a life here!"

"I know that…" Kate started again, but he interrupted her, visibly shaking.

"The island still haunts us at nights! Especially me! I still wake up, wanting to push that damn button and if it wasn't for Julie…" his voice broke and he sat down on a couch, hiding his face in his hands.

"Desmond, Des," Julie sat right by his side and then took his hands away, cupping his face and forcing him to look at her. "Desmond, I am not going anywhere. Do you hear me? I'm not coming back. No matter what happens, I'm staying here, with you. I promised you once that I would and I will keep that promise. You have nothing to be worry about, ok?"

He nodded and then faced Kate again.

"There's nothing you can say that will convince us," he said, though the emotional turmoil was still visible in his expression. "_Nothing_. Not when we've finally built a life here. Not when… we're trying for a baby for a god's sake! Even know, Julie can be pregnant. I won't let her go back!"

It wasn't supposed to happen like this. They wanted to wait until they would actually be pregnant before they would say anything to anyone, but this needed to be said now. Both Julie and Desmond understood it. Desmond also thought that Kate had no right to barge into their lives and destroy their happiness just when Julie finally decided she wanted to be a mother. The constant support, love and blind devotion she was getting from Desmond helped her to overcome her own fears about pregnancy.

"I'm truly sorry for Jack and for not being clear myself. I didn't come here to take you back with me," Kate finally explained. "I came here to ask you to take care of Aaron when I'm gone."

"Jack said we needed to go back. Every one of us," Julie noticed.

"Jack was stoned on his pills the whole time. You two just don't have a reason to come back. You have a reason to stay right here. You're the only ones that aren't lost anymore. I need to go back and bring Claire. Aaron needs his real mother and I owe him that. I need to bring her back. I actually had a very vivid dream… she was sitting in Aaron's room and she told me not to dare bring him back. I feel like she needs me. Like I need to come back to get her."

"Aaron can stay here," Desmond agreed, his voice more polite now as everything was clear. "You don't need to worry about him."

"Thank you. I just don't want to leave him with someone that doesn't know him. Claire wanted to give him up for an adoption and she regretted that. I know she wouldn't like me to leave him with a stranger now."

"I guess I can use some practice of how to be a mother," Julie said when taking Desmond's hand and squeezing it gently.

"Thank you." Kate nodded with a sad smile. "And sorry for the misunderstanding."

"It's all right," Julie smiled, too. "What about the others? Who wants to go back as well?"

"Well, Jack's going back. I don't know what for, but his life here is pure misery. He wishes he'd never got on that boat," Kate said bitterly. "He said he destroyed everything, Including us."

"Kate, he still loves you. Maybe you should give him some time. I'm sure you two can find your way back," Julie comforted her friend.

"I don't know." Kate shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. "For now Claire is my only priority. I heard Hurley was back in the mental institution, he claims that he can talk to dead people. I guess coming back wasn't good for him either. Sayid lost his wife."

"I heard. That's just awful," Julie nodded. "I called him to pay my respect. I wanted to go to a funeral but it was all the way in Iraq and I'm not too eager to fly."

"Yeah," Desmond agreed when putting his arm around his wife.

"And there's Sun. She wants to get Jim back." That actually wasn't surprising. Julie would do the same if Desmond had stayed behind.

After few more minutes Kate needed to go. She had a plane to catch, after all.

"We'll take care of Aaron for as long as it takes. Don't worry about him. He's in good hands," Julie assured her when hugging her tightly.

"Thank you. I'll back as soon as I can. I hope we'll find a way out of the island again."

"First you need to find a way to the island," Desmond noticed and gave Kate a hug as well. "See you in another life, sister."

Kate sent him a faint smile and then she was gone.

"I don't know the first thing of being a mother," Julie admitted when they were left alone.

"Well, you took care of Aaron on the island for Claire, didn't you?" Desmond asked when wrapping his arms around his wife again.

"You're tense. Don't worry. I'm really not coming back there," Julie assured him.

"It's not what I'm worrying about. I know you've been thinking of Claire ever since we got out."

"She was my best friend… is…" Julie hesitated. "I so wish I could take back time and save her."

Desmond sighed.

"I know how much she meant to you, because Charlie meant to me as much and I had to watch him die. I also know that if I wasn't here, you would come back with Kate for her."

Julie pulled away and looked her husband in the eye. "No, Desmond, I wouldn't. I was meant to take care of Aaron while Kate came back. I never truly was one of them, the survivors of 815. I was on the plane, but then, on the beach, I was more like an outsider. I was just like you. I didn't belong with them on that island. I don't feel like I should come back. But I do feel that I do belong with you and that I was meant to crash there to meet you, to get you. Whatever the rest of them want to do now, it doesn't matter, because I am done. Can you understand that?"

"Yes, I guess I can." He kissed her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 08**

Desmond found Julie sitting on the edge of their bathtub in the bathroom. She was just looking into the distance, not really seeing anything, wriggling her fingers.

"Julie, did something happen?" He got scared and made his way to her, sitting down right next to her. "What happened?" he repeated when he didn't get an answer.

She just shook her head. "It's nothing… I mean… It's something, but don't worry. I'm fine."

"What is it?" He got really scared at the moment despite of what she just told him. He cupped her face and gently forced her to look at him. "Tell me," he asked in desperation.

"I… I'm just scared," she admitted when lowering her gaze.

"Scared of what?" he promoted.

"I know I wanted this. I know that we decided to try together, but once it's actually happened… I just… I'm scared, Desmond. I feel awful that I am, but that doesn't change the fact that I… I'm scared," she kept on blabbering.

"What is it?" he asked once again. He hated not being able to help her.

She just sighed and picked something up, showing it to him. It was a small stick. In fact, it was a pregnancy test and there was a plus on it.

"It's positive," she said like he didn't see it already.

"Wait… wait… what?" He was truly stunned, suddenly overwhelmed by all those different emotions inside of him. "We're pregnant?" he asked dumbly again like he still couldn't believe his wife. His eyes were teary. "We're going to have a baby!" he exclaimed and swept Julie into his arms, kissing her cheek, her neck, her lips. "Wait…" he remembered that she said she wasn't sure she wanted this and there was a new emotion added to the mix. It was fear.

"I want my mommy," came the small childish voice from the door. They both looked there. Aaron stood in the door, barefooted and holding a teddy bear in one of his hands. "I want my mommy," he repeated.

One of the benefits of having another child was clearly its uncanny ability to interrupt in the least wanted moments, Desmond thought, inwardly sighing. Aaron wasn't their son, but he could only imagine that something like this could happen if they'd already had one of their own.

"Give me a second," Des asked Julie and walked toward the boy, then crouched right in front of him. "I thought we already talked about this, Aaron. You're mom loves you very much, but she had to go away for a while. She'll be back as soon as she's able to. She promised you, didn't she? You know that she loves you so much that she'll be back for you as soon as possible, don't you?"

Aaron just nodded and started sucking on his thumb.

"But I miss her."

"I know, honey. I know," Desmond said in a soothing voice. "Let me tell you what. Today is a big day for me and aunt Julie and we need to celebrate. What do you say for a huge bowl of ice cream?"

"But I already brushed my teeth," the child answered resolutely.

"That's why it's called a celebration. Today you can do things you normally wouldn't."

Aaron's face lightened up in a smile.

"Give us a few minutes and we'll be right there to get you that ice cream and then we'll watch a movie, what do you say?"

The kid nodded and was already gone, so Desmond could come back to his wife.

"Are you all right?" he made sure when sitting down right next to her again and putting his arm around her.

She nodded and then met his eyes. "I'm sorry, Desmond. I don't want you to think that I regret this or that I'm not happy. I am happy. I truly am. And I want this baby. I'm just… I'm scared of what comes next. Add to that, we have to take care of Aaron and Kate… Kate might never come back."

"We'll get through this, Julie. We've already survived so much. This is nothing in comparison."

"I'm scared that my body will change and in nine months I will have to push this baby out of me," she admitted.

"You know, I think that the fear leading to the birth itself is worse than the pain will actually be," he tried to comfort her. "Once it comes, then it'll be all over."

"Says a man," Julie snorted. _"I_ will have to give birth, not you!"

"And I would gladly do it for you if only I could," he said and they both started laughing.

"I'm pathetic," Julie sniffed.

"No, you're not. You're wonderful and you're my wife and I love you more than anything in this world. You and the baby." He put his hand on her belly and it calmed her down a bit. He was there with her and he wasn't going to leave her like all the other men in her life had done. She could feel safe with him. She wasn't alone in this. She wasn't lost anymore. "Besides, you could always have a c section," he suggested.

"It's an operation."

"Whatever you decide, I will stand by you. We'll talk to our doctor and he'll tell us all the possibilities. Don't you worry."

"I love you," Julie said and smiled to him through her tears. "And I'm happy. We're going to have a baby."

"Yes, we are." He smiled right back at her and then kissed her. "Now come. I promised Aaron ice cream."

"I could use some, too," Julie hinted and her husband laughed again.

* * *

><p>"I always wanted a boy," Julie said before her examination a few weeks later.<p>

"I know," Desmond said when sitting next to her reclining on the special chair.

"What if it's a girl and I… I'll be disappointed?" she suddenly asked, again in fear. "I'm a terrible mother, aren't I?"

"Hey, hey." Desmond took her hand and looked her in the eye. "I'm sure whatever will be born, you will love him or her just the same. It's what mothers do."

"But what if…"

"Claire wanted to give her baby for an adoption," he cut in. "Do you think she didn't feel worse than you do right now for ever wanting to do that? We both know that if she could be with Aaron today, she would never let him go."

"I know. It's just…"

"It's just the pregnancy jitters. Don't worry. Let the doctor do his examination first, all right?"

Julie didn't know how Desmond was doing it, but every time she had even the slightest doubt about something, he was right there by her side, proving her differently, taking care of her and giving her just the support she needed. She really was lucky to having found him. There weren't enough good men in the world and Desmond was definitely one of them.

"Ready?" The doctor finally came to them and prepared everything for the USG. "I'm not sure we'll be able to tell the gender today, but if we get lucky, we might. Do you want to know?"

"Yes, please," Julie answered. "I won't stand the next couple of months not knowing."

"All right, then." The doctor smiled and looked at the monitor. "Look, here's the head… and the hands…"

"So tiny," Julie said, nearly overcame with excitement. In this very moment she was hit with strong maternal feelings. She was seeing her baby and Desmond was there by her side, still holding her hand, just in the same awe as she was.

"And there it is! It's a boy," the doctor notified with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Julie asked, nearly not believing that she would, indeed, have a son at a first try.

"Positive. It's possible to make a mistake when it's early, but only when one sees a possible girl. It's only later when the hormones determine the gender, so yes, I am positive. It's a boy. Congratulations as I see it's good news!"

Julie had tears in her again and then she looked at Desmond and he leaned toward to kiss her. It must be the pregnancy hormones that she wanted to cry all the time, she decided. But at least those were tears of happiness, not sorrow like she would've had on the island. She would never survive a pregnancy there.

"Can we have a moment?" Desmond asked the doctor and after he told them that the child was perfectly healthy, he left them alone.

"Can I ask you something?" Desmond turned to his wife. "I… Would you mind if we… call him Charlie?"

For a moment she was just watching his face and then she smiled. "No, I do not mind at all. I think it's an excellent idea. It's only fitting since it's thanks to Charlie's sacrifice that we could get out off the island and have this new wonderful life."

* * *

><p>"<em>Julie! Help! I need help!" Claire was screaming from somewhere in the jungle.<em>

_ "Claire!" Julie shouted back. "Where are you?!" She was running around, frantically looking for her friend, but she couldn't find her anywhere. "Claire!"_

_ Then she heard one last blood freezing scream and there was silence._

"Claire!" Julie yelled when she was shaken awake.

"Julie! Julie, please, wake up!" Desmond's face was right over hers. His eyes were worried. His expression… devastated, scared.

"Claire. I had a dream and she was screaming for help and I couldn't find her," Julie said on one breath.

"Julie, you're bleeding," Desmond informed in the same scared voice.

Julie looked down. His hand was already covered with her blood. Blood that was on the sheets. Blood that was coming from…

"No!" she started panicking and sat up, feeling dizzy out of the sudden. "No!"

At the very moment she realized how much she truly wanted Charlie to be born. She'd never before wanted kids, but now… now she did and she couldn't lose this one. She just couldn't!

"We need to get you to a hospital," Desmond said when jumping out of bed.

Julie was still in shock. Her eyes widely opened as she stared into the distance. She couldn't possibly lose this baby, she kept on thinking. She didn't care about anything else anymore. Her fears about the delivery, about the pregnancy itself seemed so meaningless now. She could endure pain. She would if only it meant the health and life for her boy.

"Desmond…" she said her husband's name in panic as he got to her and threw some sweater on her shoulders. "I don't want to lose him."

"I'm sorry, honey. I'm just afraid it's too late now."

"It's my fault. I never wanted him… until I did. I want him, Des. I _need _him. You need to know I do."

"I know," he said urgently when cupping her face. "But I can't lose you, too. I won't. We need to go _now_, do you understand me?"

She just nodded and let him lead her out of the bedroom and to the front door.

"What about Aaron?" she asked when turning around.

"We need to take him as well."

It was hard for Desmond to get Julie to the car and then come back for Aaron, doing his best to convince the little boy that everything would be all right, that his aunt wasn't feeling well and they needed to get her to a doctor. Then Aaron asked," Is aunt Julie going away like mommy did?"

It took all Desmond's willpower not to break down right there.

"No, she's not," was all he could say at the moment.

Luckily for him, Aaron fell asleep on the backseat before he managed to become fully alert. The poor thing was just too tired.

"Is this a punishment?" he heard his wife's question when they finally pulled over by the emergency sign at the hospital.

"No," he said, his voice determined and unwavering. "It's not. These things just happen." He got out of the car and there was already a nurse waiting with a wheelchair.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to assess the situation.

"My wife… she's pregnant and… bleeding. Please, help her."

The nurse nodded and they transported Julie to the wheelchair and then she was taken into the exam room. Desmond wasn't let inside and even if, he still had Aaron to take care of. He decided to lay him down on a couch in the waiting room. Then he just sat right next to the boy's sleeping form. He felt helpless and he hated that feeling. He didn't have the slightest clue of how he would go on without Julie. Then he decided not to think about this. It wasn't the time. He wasn't losing her. He would _not_ lose her.

"Don't worry, sir. Your wife will be all right," said some stranger that took the chair nearby.

"Do I know you, brother?" Desmond asked when frowning. How could a stranger just say something like that to him? As much as he appreciated the guy's will to make him feel better, he was clearly sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

The stranger didn't answer to that. Instead he just said, "You have nothing to be afraid of anymore, Desmond." After that, he stood up and for a moment placed his hand on Desmond's arm. He was blonde and his eyes seemed to convey only good. That why it was so confusing since this man was apparently crazy.

"Who are you?!" Desmond raised his voice and stood up, wanting to stop the stranger when the nurse got to him. "Mr. Hume? You can see your wife now. She's all right."

Desmond shot sleeping Aaron a worried look and the nurse smiled at him, "I can watch him for a moment. Go to your wife."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" When Desmond made his way to the door and looked back, the stranger was gone.

* * *

><p>"Julie!" Desmond got inside her room and walked toward the bed she was lying in. "How are you feeling?! Are you all right?"<p>

Julie smiled at him, though sadly, and nodded.

He quickly took the chair by the bed and when sitting down, grasped her hand. "What about the baby?" he nearly whispered, because he was too scared to actually ask that one question out loud.

"Your baby is fine," sounded the voice of the doctor that just entered the room. "He's fine. You don't need to worry."

"What?!" Julie was so surprised and so happy that her face turned from pale and sick to a truly beaming one. "I didn't lose it? Why did I bleed, then?" she asked. Desmond was just too stunned and too happy at the moment to utter a proper sentence.

"I'm thinking stress or worry. It can wear you down pretty bad and result in bleeding, even miscarriage. I recommend you take a good care of yourself, Mrs. Hume, and try not to worry so much. Can you do that for me?"

Julie met Desmond's eyes and they both knew that it would be hard since Kate hadn't come back from the island yet, if she would ever come back. Still, their child's life was at stake here, so they would do their best to keep it safe and make sure he would be born.

"Now, I will keep you under observation during the night and if tomorrow everything's fine, I'll let you go home."

"Thank you, doctor. Thank you so much." Desmond stood up to shake the man's hand.

"You're welcome. Now, I'm sure your wife's tired and you have another child to take care of. The boy that's in the waiting room? Take him home. Come back tomorrow morning."

Desmond looked questioningly at Julie, but she just smiled to him and nodded. "The doctor is right. I'll be sleeping anyway, Des. Go home and I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded, but then made his way to her to kiss her. Just then he was able to leave.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

* * *

><p>Couple of minutes later the door to Julie's room opened. She didn't see who walked inside.<p>

"Desmond?" she asked, not really sure that it was him. After all, he said he would go home with Aaron.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Julie," the man finally spoke and she could tell by the lack of Scottish accent that he wasn't her husband. He made his way to her bed and she could see his face in the semi-darkness. He was tall and blond and absolutely a stranger to her. She wanted to push the button that would call for the nurse, but there was something in his eyes, something so devastatingly sad and good in the same time that it made her trust him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I wanted to tell you that you and your family will be all right. You don't have to worry about your friends back at the island as well. She'll be back, Julie. Claire will come back to take care of Aaron." His hand touched her arm as he said that.

Julie opened her eyes widely and wondered if that was a dream.

"Wh… Ho… Who are you?" she finally finished. "How do you know…"

"My name is Jacob. I'm kind of… a guardian of the island. I came to tell you not to worry. You need to focus on Charlie right now. Can you do that for me?"

She was more stunned than ever now.

"I'm sorry you needed to crash on that island, but I can tell you that it's finished with you. You will never have to be scared of it again. Your husband, Desmond, is also done. He's done his job when pushing the button for three years. You're both free now."

Before Julie could ask something again, Jacob was gone what made her wonder if it was all a dream. Still, something told her it wasn't.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 08**

"_So, I wonder," Julia began when looking at her companion that sat right next to her on the plane. "What will be doing the whole week in Australia?"_

_ "Oh, you know well what," the man turned to her and smiled, but it was more like a smirk._

_ "Oh, yes, so many interesting seminars and lectures to hear." She nodded naughtily. "I can't wait._

_ "Oh, so you want to attend lectures?" the man asked. "I thought you'd rather…" He never finished his sentence when somebody bumped into him on his way and the orange juice the man had in his glass spilled all over his shirt. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Professor yelled angrily and got up. "Watch where you're going!"_

_ "I'm so sorry, brother," the man apologized in an honest voice. "I didn't mean to."_

_ "Yeah, right. Maybe you also didn't mean to actually drink too much!" the man huffed and strode toward the bathroom at the end of the plane, bumping the stranger's shoulders hard on his way._

_ "I'm sorry," the woman from her seat spoke. "I guess he doesn't really like flying, because he's been acting off ever since we boarded the plane."_

_ "Why would you guess? Don't you know this man? I had the impression that you were a couple," The stranger said and the plane shook as it hit a particularly bad turbulence. "May I?" he pointed the temporarily free seat and took it without waiting for the woman's permission._

_ "I think you're starting to pry in business that is not yours," the woman said warningly. _

_ "I'm sorry. I don't even know why I asked that. I'm usually a very nice person," the man smiled toward her and there was something in his eyes that made her believe him. Something that caused her to trust him even though it was ridiculous since she didn't even know him._

_ "I'm Desmond Hume. Going to Australia on business," he introduced himself and reached his hand toward her._

_ "I'm Julia Stanley. For friends Julie." The woman smiled and shook Desmond's hand._

_ "Well, Julie…" he started and suddenly stopped. It was like he was hit with some kind of a light. His vision went white and he saw it. _He saw it all. A pair of two old people. The woman was lying on her death bed and the man, him, was holding her fragile hand and then he kissed her lips. There were their two adults children present and he knew that there the grandchildren were in the other room. Another flash brought him a memory of sitting on a beach and watching a woman going out of the water. Then there was the first time he kissed her. Their first time in the tent when she was taking off his blue shirt. The moment when they bought their house. The moment they had their first child.

_ "Are you all right?! Desmond! Des, wake up!" Julie said urgently, shaking the man that just woke up. _

_ "You called me Des," he said in a strange kind of awe._

_ "Sorry. I don't know why I did that. I was worried. You fainted on me. Are you all right? Should I find out if there's a doctor aboard?" she quickly asked._

_ "Do you _remember_?" he asked and she shot him a stunned look._

_ "What are you talking about?" she asked slowly. "Are you sure you're all right?"_

_ "Don't you remember me, Julie?" he asked again, this time almost in desperation. He reached for her hand again just when her companion came back from the bathroom._

_ "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Hands off of her! She's with me! I can't believe…"_

_ "You should treat her with a little more respect, brother," Desmond said in a hard voice and stood up. _

_ "What did you just say to me?! First you splash your drink all over me and then…" Suddenly, he hit Desmond, causing him to stagger, nearly falling down. He tried to hit back when they were stopped by one of the passengers._

_ "Hey! Hey! Stop this! We're on a plane for a god's sake!"_

_ "Come back to your seat," Julie's companion turned to Desmond when the girl stood up. "What the hell are you doing?" He turned to her._

_ "Making sure he's all right. He just fainted and you freaking hit him!"_

_ "Whatever," the man murmured under his nose and took his seat._

_ "You shouldn't be with him," she heard from Desmond as she helped him out to his place that apparently was in the first class. "Sit," he offered her a free seat right next to him when she shot him a look._

_ "No, thank you. I don't want to be thrown out by the stewardess. I shouldn't even go to the first class…"_

_ "Nonsense. I'm a very successful and powerful businessman. They won't throw you out if I'm the one who asked you here."_

_ She eyed him carefully and finally took the offered seat. It was either this - spending some time in the company of an apparent crazy person, or coming back to her aggravated date. She rather choose crazy for now._

_ "I know this will sound crazy," Desmond turned to her as soon as she took her seat. She really wanted to roll her eyes at that. It was like he just read her mind. "But you're not meant to be with that man. He's bad news, Julie."_

_ "How dare you tell me what I should or shouldn't do? We just met!" She got angry and wanted to leave when he grasped her wrist gently. _

_ "Please, listen to me." There was something in his eyes that caused her to. She had nothing to lose anyway. "You went to Australia, had an affair and you came back completely broken. What more, you boarded a flight Oceanic 815 and it crashed. You spent almost a hundred days on an island and then…"_

_ "Ok, you're really crazy," she said and wanted to get away, but he stopped her again._

_ "You can't go back to this man. He will use you both physically and emotionally. I can change things this time."_

_ "This time?" She was completely stupefied now. "I don't know what mental institution you left, but…" Her words were muffled when he suddenly kissed her. At first she wanted to pull away, but then she felt something. Something so… _familiar, right. _How was it possible that she was in love with him? _How?

_ When she stooped struggling and surrendered to the feeling, when she actually kissed him back, she saw it. _Australia. The plane going down. Her silent time on the beach. Desmond drinking on the shore. Desmond changing her life. Them falling in love and leaving the island. Her slapping the face of the very same man she was to go to Australia right now.

_She pulled away with a gasp. Her eyes were widely opened._

_ "Desmond," she said, but this time there was clear recognition in her words and affection. His name sounded differently, like a caress. "How? What?"_

_ He cupped her face and met her eyes and she could see his tears._

_ "I'm here, baby. I found you. We're together again."_

_ She threw herself into his arms and reveled in the familiar and dear feeling of him._

_ "But _where_ are we?" she asked._

_ The answer froze her to the bones. "We're dead," Desmond said._

_ Then, then there was only peace. Surprisingly enough, she accepted the truth. She did remember that they'd spent their whole lives together in peace and happiness._

_ "It's ok," she found herself saying. "We've had more than enough when we lived."_

_ "Yes, we did. We were one of the lucky ones," Desmond said when brushing a stray tear from her cheek. "But the road toward that happiness was hard and filled with misery and pain."_

_ "Isn't every road like that?" she asked the perfect question. "What's the best in life comes the hard way."_

_ Desmond just nodded, reveling in the sight of her face, in the presence of her right next to him._

_ "What now?" she asked after a few moments of companionable silence._

_ "Now we move one. But first we need to get on the flight Oceanic 815."_

_ "Are you kidding me? So it would crash all over again?"_

_ "That's the thing. It won't crash because here, in the place where we're dead… in between… there is no island. The island is life. And I'm here. No pushing a button would never bring the plane down."_

_ "But they'll all be there in Australia very soon," Julie noticed. "Can't we just gather them together?"_

_ Desmond shook his head. "The flight 815 is the exact thing that will gather us all together. Then we'll make sure they all find each other back in Los Angeles. That they all remember."_

_ "And then what?" Julie promoted_

_ "Then we move on."_

_ She smiled to him. "No matter where we'll be or in what form, we'll always be together, won't we?"_

_ "I'm pretty sure of that." Desmond smiled to her and leaned toward her to kiss her. In that exact moment they heard an angry voice._

_ "What the fuck?!" It was her companion, the man she abandoned for Desmond just a few minutes ago. "Are you all fucking crazy? This is my date!" _

_ "Sir, I will have to ask you to calm down and leave. This is not your class," the stewardess got to them._

_ "It's ok. I'll talk to him and then he'll leave. I promise," Julie said when standing up._

_ The stewardess looked at Desmond and he nodded. She just sighed and walked away._

_ "I used to hate you," Julie turned to her biggest nightmare. At least he'd been one when she'd still been alive. "But now I only pity you."_

_ "Julie, what are you…?"_

_ "I know you don't understand me and I'm sorry for that. I just hope that someone will do for you what Desmond did for me."_

_ "Julie, are you going crazy? I feel like in a Twilight Zone."_

_ "I'm sorry. I just can't go with you. I can't be with you. Even if we're all…" her voice trailed off before she could actually reveal the big secret. He wasn't ready for it and she knew it. Besides, she didn't want to end up in a mental institution in her death. "I just can't make the same mistake twice. I'm sorry. Go back to your seat and forget about me. Goodbye, Alex." After having said that, she turned around._

_ "Good riddance," he just murmured under his breath and finally left._

* * *

><p>"<em>Didn't you have an important business meeting?" Julie asked Desmond when they stumbled into his hotel room, kissing.<em>

_ "What does it matter now?" he asked. "I'm here in Australia to earn another couple of millions, but I don't need that money. We're already dead and soon, we'll leave. Why would I bother with showing up to a boring meeting when I can spend this remaining week with you in bed? We're both young again. Maybe this isn't real, but it feels real. Why not enjoy it?"_

_ Julie didn't answer, instead she ripped his shirt open, enjoying what she saw._

_ "Remember that blue shirt that I loved so much?"she asked._

_ "The one that was also driving you crazy?" he chuckled. "Oh, I do."_

_ "It was driving me crazy just because you looked so hot in it and I couldn't touch you back then."_

_ "You could."_

_ "But we weren't together. I didn't know that you loved me. I didn't want to ruin the friendship we had."_

_ Desmond just kissed her deeply in response and then said against her lips, "We have all week so you could model for me all the pretty underwear that you bought."_

_ "Or I could just wear every single one of your shirts," she teased him._

_ "Sounds good to me."_

_ They landed on a couch, both in their underwear, Julie straddling him._

_ Yes, it would be an amazing week, she thought._


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10**

_When the idle week passed, both Julie and Desmond boarded the flight 815. _

_ "Why do we have to be in another section of the plane?" Julie complained when the plane took off._

_ "We can't intervene. Not yet," Desmond answered and took her hand in his. "Let the fate run its course. It's only then that we can help them see the truth."_

_ "Granted the plane won't crash," Julie murmured under her breath and held onto his hand tightly when a particularly bad turbulence hit them. "That's it, isn't it?" She looked at him in awe. "This was the moment everything went down the hill."_

_ "Yes, it was. And this time we're still here. I need to go talk to someone." Desmond smiled to her and unclasped his seatbelt._

_ "Hey! I thought we couldn't!"_

_ "Julie… when I was in the implosion in the hatch," he explained, "I survived and something happened to me back then, do you remember?"_

_ "Yes, you time travelled," she said, nodding._

_ "Exactly. And it's thanks to that implosion that I now know more than all the others. My job is to help them."_

_ "You're just afraid I'll screw something up when talking to someone."_

_ "I don't, but you should really stay here."_

_ He came back after about twenty minutes._

_ "Who did you talk to?" she asked out of curiosity._

_ "I just said hi to Jack," Desmond answered and Julie was hit with the sudden wave of sadness. Because she remembered._

"Kate… who else got out?" Julie just asked her friend. "It can't just be the three of you!"

"Jack…" Kate started and stopped, shutting her eyes and putting a hand over her mouth. "He's gone, Julie. Jack is… he's dead."

_Julie remembered that all she could do was to hug Kate. She couldn't even imagine that kind of a pain. She knew Jack was the love of Kate's life._

_ "We need to get them back together," she said in determined voice._

_ "Who?" Desmond asked, having lost the plot as Julie had been immersed into her own thoughts just a moment ago._

_ "Jack and Kate."_

_ "That's why we're here. We'll get them all back together." Desmond leaned toward her and kissed her._

_ Just in that moment they felt someone looking at them. They parted only to see Hurley._

_ "Sorry, I just…" Hugo shook his head. "You're a very lovely couple," he said when nodding._

_ "Thank you, H…" Julie stopped herself just in time. "Thank you," she repeated with a smile._

_ "I was just looking for a bathroom."_

_ "That way, brother." Desmond pointed the direction and when Hurley was gone Julie somehow knew that he'd been watching them from an entirely different reason. They must seem familiar to him, but he didn't know from where he knew them._

_ "He still doesn't remember, does he?" she sighed._

_ "Sorry."_

"Jack… he was like Jacob. He… became Jacob, but then Locked stabbed him and Hurley took the reins," Kate explained. "That's why Hurley didn't go back with us."

_"It's remarkable that even after death you can feel so much pain and so much joy," Julie said when the plane was landing._

_ "It's because there's life after death," Desmond said, very sure of himself._

* * *

><p>"<em>Can I help you?" Desmond offered the blonde and extremely pregnant woman when she was struggling with her luggage.<em>

_ Julie just stood behind him, completely struck when seeing Claire._

_ "Thank you," the blonde said and smiled to Desmond. _

_ "Is it safe to travel when so pregnant?" Desmond asked in a friendly tone._

_ Claire smiled again and Julie had troubles holding her tears. This Claire was so full of life, so radiant. She didn't resemble the Claire that came back from the island. That Claire was burdened and troubled, but was loved just the same._

_ "I had no choice," she answered and shrugged. "Thanks again." After that, she walked away._

_ "Oh god," Julie just whispered. "Can we talk to her some more?"_

_ "I don't think the time has come yet," Des answered and when retrieving both their luggage, he and Julie made their way out as well._

_ Then they saw Claire again. She was looking around with a slight disappointment on her face. She was clearly waiting for someone. Probably someone that didn't come._

_ "Sorry to bother you again," Desmond once again turned to her, "but you look troubled. Do you want us to give you a ride?" he offered. "Me and my wife have nowhere to be right now so it wouldn't be a trouble at all."_

_ Claire briefly looked at Julie and then back at Desmond and she shook her head with the same never fading smile. "Nah, it's fine. I'll just grab a cab."_

_ "Are you sure?" Julie prompted because she really wanted to talk to Claire._

_ "Yes, but thank you."_

_ "Bu…" Julie was already opening her mouth to speak again when Desmond hand's took her own and squeezed gently, clearly telling her something. Having no choice, they walked away._

_ "It's a boy!" Desmond suddenly called after Claire._

_ "What?" She frowned._

_ "Trust me! I'm good at those things!"_

_ "Why didn't we push to take her?" Julie asked when they were further away and Claire couldn't possibly hear them._

_ "Because apparently she wasn't meant to get into the limo with us," Desmond answered, chuckling._

_ "A limo?" Julie raised her eyebrows. "My, my, you are rich. By the way, you called me your wife back then. We're not married here."_

_ "And where is here, exactly?" he asked when opening the back door of the limo for her. "We're married, Julie, because we remember getting married… Look!" He pointed something in the distance and Julie followed his hand. _

_ Claire just got into a taxi and a few seconds after that Kate, clearly being chased by someone, got inside it, too, and it drove away. The police was already screaming to stop the cub, but it was too late._

_ "Are you sure Claire's safe? Kate was… is… a fugitive, after all," Julie noticed._

_ "But Kate would never hurt Claire and we both know it. Stop worrying and get into the car, wifey."_

_ Julie just laughed and did what he asked her to do._

* * *

><p>She was six months pregnant when the phone finally rang. She didn't know yet as she was picking it up that it was what she'd been waiting for ever since Aaron had stayed with her and Desmond.<p>

"Yes?" she said into the receiver.

"Julie?" It was Kate's voice.

Julie jerked to a sitting position, what was kind of hard because of her belly getting in the way every time she wanted to move fast. "Oh my god, Kate!" she exclaimed and Desmond got to the living room from the kitchen as he heard her scream. "Kate, are you all right?! Are you safely out of the island?!"

"Yes," Kate confirmed.

"How are you? Is Claire with you? What's wrong?" There obviously was something wrong and Julie could tell by the sound of Kate's voice.

"Claire's with me, but she's… She's spent three years on the island alone, thinking the Others took her baby, Julie. She was being manipulated by… oh, there's so much I need to tell you. I'll bring her there as soon as possible, ok? I just… I need to make her look presentable for Aaron to see."

"Oh… Of course! We'll be waiting!" Julie said and Kate hung up on her.

"What's wrong?" Desmond asked when immediately sitting by his wife's side and taking her hand.

* * *

><p>When two hours later the doorbell rang, Julie was beyond nervous and stressed. The pregnancy not helping at all.<p>

"Stay there!" Desmond told her before she managed to stand up from her comfortable place on the couch. "I'll get it! You'll see them all soon enough!" Only when he opened the door there were only Kate, Claire and Sawyer. "Where's the rest?" he asked dumbly when hugging them one by one. "So good to see you, Claire! … Sawyer!" He knew better than to repeat his previous question. None of the visitors were in a good mood. Kate seemed to be in the worst.

Though her face lightened up in a smile when she took in Julie's condition.

"My god! You're pregnant! Congratulations!"

Julie couldn't listen to her husband any longer. She just had to get up and welcome her friends.

She stood up slowly and gave Kate a hug, then she hugged Sawyer. They weren't that much acquainted with each other, but he was one of the survivors and there wasn't enough of them left anyway.

Then she spotted Claire just standing shyly in the back, wriggling her fingers. Kate had definitely done some job on her since she was wearing fresh clothes and her hair was cut to the level of her shoulders.

"Claire," Julie said in a highly emotional voice and she started to cry. "Oh god, I missed you so much!" She got to her friend and put her arms around her. Then she felt relieved when Claire actually reciprocated the hug, holding on to her. "I wanted to go get you, but I couldn't… Desmond and the baby…" Julie's voice got struck in her throat.

"I understand," Claire finally spoke and let Julie go. "I do. I'm just glad to be here."

"Mommy!" This moment was chosen by Aaron to run out of his room and straight toward Kate who picked him up from the ground and hugged tightly.

Julie knew Kate couldn't help herself, but it was that much harder for Claire, Aaron's biological mother.

"Aaron, there's someone special I want you to meet," Kate finally spoke to the boy and brought him toward the startled and slightly dazed Claire. "This woman right here is someone so very special to you. She loves you very much and you spent the first months of your life with her. I know you don't remember, but you need to know that."

When Claire tentatively took Aaron from Kate's arms and hugged him, the little boy reciprocating eagerly, Kate stood right next to Julie.

"Have you planned what to tell him?" Julie asked.

Kate just sighed. "Not sure yet. I will probably have to explain to him what a biological mother means and that I am also his mom, but not in that way."

"I'm sure everything will work itself out, Kate," Julie turned to her with a smile. "You'll see."

"I hope so. At least they're together." Kate pointed the mother and her child.

"Kate, where are… where are the rest of you?" Julie finally dared to ask again and she already knew some pretty hard news were coming.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

"_You know, I've been thinking," Julie said to Desmond as he parked his car. "We've been extremely lucky when we were alive. Our love survived."_

_ "Of course it did," Desmond said._

_ "No, you're not following. I mean… every one of them, the rest of the survivors, they found their love, but they lost it quickly. No one made it to the end. I mean… no one. Jin and Sun died together, but they still died."_

_ Desmond thought about it for a while. "You're right, we were incredibly lucky. And just because of that we need to help the rest to find that happiness again."_

_ "What do we do now?" Julie just asked, waiting for instructions._

_ "Well, I need to go pick Charlie up from jail," Desmond simply said._

_ "Jail?!" Julie raised her voice in surprise. "What the hell did he do? I thought only Kate was on the run!"_

_ "She is, but Charlie had heroine on him back in the plane and he was arrested for it."_

_ "Of course he was. Ok, so where that leaves me?"_

_ "I think I'll try to bring Charlie to the dock. Maybe the sight of water and my presence will help him to remember something. Maybe it'll at least make him trust me."_

_ "You want him to remember that you were the last person he saw before he died?" Julie made sure when Desmond pulled over the car. "Yeah, you really think that will make him trust you?"_

_ "At least it'll be something familiar. Wait here, will ya?"_

_ She just nodded as she walked out of the car and watched Desmond drive away._

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm talking spectacular, consciousness altering love, mate," Charlie was just saying as they were sitting in a bar. Desmond had had no choice but to follow his friend there. "Have you ever felt something like that?"<em>

_ "Yes," Desmond answered when smiling. "Actually, I am experiencing it right now. I just found my wife."_

_ "Good for you, buddy. At least your girl didn't appear to you when you were about to die." Charlie patted Desmond's back and turned to leave._

_ "Hey! Wait!"_

* * *

><p><em>Julie was relieved to see Desmond's car coming back, but that relief quickly turned into horror when the car swerved dramatically and landed in the water.<em>

_ "Oh my god!" she exclaimed when covering her mouth with her hands and ran to the dock, frantically wondering what to do. Finally, she started to take her shoes off with the intention to dive in._

_ Just then Desmond appeared, taking a deep breath as he emerged from the water._

_ "Desmond! Are you ok?!" she asked. "Where's Charlie?!"_

_ "I'll go get him!" Desmond said with the intention to dive back in._

_ "What if something happens to you?!" Julie yelled, terrified._

_ "We're already dead," he just said. "Nothing will happen to me."_

_ Few moments later he finally came back with Charlie. _

_ When the ambulance came they wanted to take Desmond but he refused, swearing he was fine and they needed to take care of his friend._

_ "That went smooth," Julie said when standing nearby with her arms folded on her chest. She looked at Desmond's wet clothes. "Did you achieve anything by that?"_

_ "I'm not sure. I could've sworn he remembered something, anything, like a flash, but then… nothing. He doesn't seem to remember me."_

_ "Well, he's a drug addict, so whatever he saw, he's probably thinking those were hallucinations."_

_ "I'll get him to the concert one way or another." Desmond shrugged._

_ "Wait, what concert?" Julie asked._

_ "Faraday is throwing a concert and he wants to play with the Drive Shaft."_

_ "Wasn't that the guy who Kate mentioned died on the island like in the seventies?" _

_ "The exact same one. Now, we need to get back to my house so I could change and then we'll take another car."_

_ "Where are we going?" Julie asked in an exasperated voice. If things would go the same way as they went with Charlie, they should start thinking about plan B._

* * *

><p><em>Julie was nervous when she entered the building in which she should find Claire. Desmond had schooled her in everything she was to tell, or for that matter, not to tell. He was currently with John Locke, assuming he'd got to him by now.<em>

_ Julie idly walked toward the reception desk and wrote her name on the list. Claire was just leaving it._

_ "Hey, you were on the plane. Oceanic 815, right?" Julie asked, faking a surprise._

_ Claire turned toward her._

_ "Yes." She nodded. "Your husband offered me a ride, didn't he?"_

_ "That's right. I'm Julia Hume." Julie reached her hand to Claire. She was proud of herself that she hadn't called Claire by her name so far. She wasn't supposed to know it yet._

_ "Claire Littleton. Nice to meet you."_

_ "How are you? Everything all right with the baby?" Julie asked when they both headed toward the elevators._

_ "Yes, although I had a small accident. I landed up in a hospital."_

_ "Oh… are you all right?" Julie got concerned as they stepped into the elevator. _

_ "Yes, I am now and your husband was right. It is a boy. Aaron," Claire said when touching her belly._

_ Something inside Julie ached in this moment._

_ "That's a lovely name. I hate that you were in that hospital though. Maybe we should've insisted on giving you that ride."_

_ "It's fine. I knew I shouldn't be flying at this stage of my pregnancy, but I… I wanted to give him up for an adoption," Claire suddenly confessed. Julie could only feel happy that she decided to trust her with that information when technically Claire didn't know her yet. Or maybe deep down inside she did know that she could talk to her as they were good friends. "The couple that was supposed to take him, split up and now I'm looking for a new one."_

_ "Did you consider keeping him?" Julie asked. "Sorry, I don't want to overstep the boundaries here, I just…"_

_ "It's ok." Claire smiled. She really had a very pretty and radiant smile. Julie could only be sorry for her and for Charlie that they didn't seem to get their happy ending when they'd been alive. "I just don't think I can do this on my own. No college education, no one to help me and no stable job. I just… can't."_

_ "I'm sorry, but if you ever change your mind, I'm sure you'll be able to take care of him somehow… Oh, I'm getting off at the same level," Julie noticed and then she knew she needed to tell Claire exactly what Desmond had told her to. "Listen, I'm just on my way to meet my lawyer. She's amazing and I'm sure she could help you with all the legal work considering the adoption. Come see her with me. It won't cost you a penny."_

_ Claire hesitated, clearly surprised at the kindness she'd met with from the Humes' side._

_ "You didn't accept that ride home and landed up in a hospital. It's the least I can do," Julie encouraged her._

_ "Why are you meeting your lawyer? Are you getting a divorce?" Claire asked in a sad voice. "You seemed like such a lovely couple."_

_ "Oh god, no, we're not getting a divorce!" Julie denied quickly as they stepped out of the elevator. "Desmond and I are crazy about each other. It's just a business meeting."_

_ "Oh, good, because you're really great together," Claire said and then shrugged. "What the hell! I'll go see your lawyer."_

_ "Excellent!"_

_ It was only when Julie introduced Claire to her lawyer that she realized how important it was for Desmond she would do so._

_ "Wait… Claire Littleton from Australia?"_

_ "How do you know where I'm from?" Claire asked, a little taken aback._

_ "We were looking for you."_

_ Julie took a seat in the waiting room when her lawyer and Claire disappeared in the office._

_ A moment after that her whole body stilled as she watched Jack Shepherd walking inside with a teenage boy and then disappearing in the same room. It made sense. Claire was his sister and they still didn't know about it in this world, but a son?_

_ Julie took her cell phone and sent a text message to Desmond as she wasn't sure she should call in the middle of his conversation with John Locke. _How the hell Jack has a son?! _It said._

_ Just a few minutes later Jack and his son left the room._

_ "I'm sorry. Medical emergency. Can you reschedule?" he asked the receptionist. "Some poor guy in a wheelchair was run over!" And he was gone._

_ Julie just sat there, completely stupefied. Then she got to the door and picked her phone again._

_ Desmond picked up._

_ "Did you just _ran over _Locke?!" she asked angrily. She couldn't understand this. This wasn't her Desmond at all. Her Desmond didn't hurt people._

_ "Julie, just get down and we'll talk, ok?" He hung up on her!_

_ The elevator couldn't be more slower at the moment. Then, finally, Julie was able to left the building and she jumped into the car Desmond was driving._

_ "Explain!" she demanded without preamble._

_ "I didn't hurt John. I was trying to help him."_

_ "By running him over?!" She just couldn't stop repeating those words._

_ "It was the only way. He met Jack on the airport and Jack offered to help him so he could walk again, but John refused. He needed a little push."_

_ "A push?!"_

_ "He needed to be operated by Jack so Jack would be able to fix him."_

_ "All right," Julie huffed. "What next?"_

_ "You're gonna have to do exactly as those instructions say." Desmond handed her a piece of paper. "Find Ana Lucia."_

_ "Ana Lucia, great. Of course." By this point Julie didn't care about anything that sounded crazy anymore._

_ "I'll need to… well… beat up Benjamin Linus."_

_ "I won't even ask," Julie just shook her head._

_ "And get myself arrested."_

_ "Uhm…" This was a bizarre reality, if it was even a reality, for a god's sake! She thought. "But why? Don't tell me you're feeling bad for running John over, because you could've just…"_

_ "Kate and Sayid are in jail and Sawyer is a law officer."_

_ "Of course he is."_

_ "And here is why I need you to talk to Ana Lucia. She will free us."_

_ "All right. Is there something else you wanna share?"_

* * *

><p><em>When Julie and Hurley finally reached the previously pointed by Desmond place, the van that was supposed to transfer him, Kate and Sayid to another jail, was already there.<em>

_ Julie jumped out of the car when holding a black dress - another thing Desmond had asked to bring - and told Hugo to hurry up._

_ "You're not going anywhere until I get my money," Ana Lucia was just warning Des._

_ "There's the guy! He'll pay you!" Desmond pointed Hurley with relief._

_ "Honey, I'm sorry we're late!" Julie called to him and then finally ran toward him and gave him a peck on the lips. _

_ "Got the dress?" Des made sure and Julie gave the dress to Kate. She herself was already wearing a little red one._

_ "Put it on," Desmond told Kate, "you're going with us. Hurley, you take Sayid!"_

_ "I guess I should be relieved that you're not a pervert," Kate said when frowning at the dress. "You wouldn't pull something like that off with your wife here, would you?"_

_ Julie and Desmond looked at each other and burst into delicious laugh._

_ "You'll understand everything soon, Kate, I promise," Julie said when looking at her old friend with softness in her eyes. Apparently, a softness Kate couldn't understand yet either._

* * *

><p><em>When they finally managed to get to the concert, Claire and Jack's son were already sitting by the table, but there was no Jack.<em>

_ "Claire?" Kate asked with her eyes widely opened. "What are you doing here?"_

_ "And what are you doing here?" Claire looked at both Julie and Desmond who just smiled and took their seats._

_ Soon enough both the stunned women sat down as well, trying to figure out how it was that they'd seemed to be meeting the fellow passengers from the flight 815 ever since they'd landed._

_ Julie comfortably snuggled into Desmond's chest and they watched as the concert started._

_ "We're living tonight, aren't we?" Julie asked him quietly when holding his hand._

_ "Yes, my dear, we are," he confirmed._

_ "It's happening so fast."_

_ "Life's always happening fast and what comes next has no difference."_

_ When the concert started Desmond and Julie noticed Charlie looking at Claire from his position at the stage. His eyes were so intensely fixed on her that it unsettled the blonde and suddenly… She jerked and stood up._

_ "I need to… I need to go to the bathroom!" She said in a panicked voice and walked away when holding onto her belly._

_ "I'll better check up on her," Kate offered and was gone, too._

_ "Wait a moment, Julie," Desmond warned his wife that wanted to follow the women. "We can go after the concert."_

* * *

><p><em>When Julie and Desmond finally walked to the backstage room, they were welcomed by a picture that melted their hearts and brought tears into their eyes. <em>

_ Claire had had her baby and she was with Charlie, both smiling as they finally remembered. Kate was standing nearby, also smiling and crying._

_ "Claire!" Julie called her friend and finally, there was a recognition on her face as she jumped to Julie to hug her. "I missed you so much," Julie added._

_ "Me, too. Oh god… How come we're all here like this?"_

_ Next Julie hugged Charlie and Kate, then she said hi to Aaron and finally, Desmond said, "We need to go to the church now. Kate, you will have to stay and wait for Jack. Get him there. We'll be waiting."_

_ Kate only nodded through her happy tears and they parted for the moment._

* * *

><p>"<em>Where is he?" Desmond asked when Kate entered the church. They were all there already. All, except Jack.<em>

_ "You know him. No matter what his heart is telling him, he needs proof. He's in the back with his father," Kate explained. "Hopefully, Christian Shepherd will make him realize what is happening."_

_ He did, because soon enough Jack was entering the church, smiling at every one he saw with tears in his eyes. His body was slightly shaking as he began hugging them all. _

_ When he was finally done, he joined Kate and they were all ready to move on._

_ Christian Shepherd made his way through the church and opened the door, bathing the room in the warm light._

_ "What happens now?" Julie asked Desmond when looking into his eyes._

_ "Now we'll be one _forever."

**THE END**

* * *

><p><strong>Video to the story I made: <strong>

youtube

* * *

><p>watch?v=28MaqKqgpwk<p> 


	12. AN: Video to the story

**AN: **I made an excellent video to this story:

youtube

* * *

><p>watch?v=28MaqKqgpwk<p>

* * *

><p>the whole link in my profile. I hope you know where to add dots:)<p> 


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